D&D Players, What are some random ideas to put in my campaign?

[@paigeepler]

A magical sword that eats other swords to become stronger. It's sentient, and encourages the wielder to seek out other sword wielders and defeat them so it can eat their swords. It's not good or evil, it just wants to become the BEST sword.

[@xryuran]

That's a neat one. You could make it so that you need to eat a certain number of each rarity of sword to get the upgrade, 1 artifact, 10 ledgendary, 100 very rare, 1000 rare, 10000 uncommon, and 100000 common. Paradoxically the best power comes from the common Swords, it makes a baby eating-sword, which is another artifact. Do you dare feed the sword its child for an upgrade ?

[@volksdude1970]

So the sword version of an Immortal from Highlander? THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!

[@kevinthomas4064]

As a joke I said after beating the BBEG....... "I cast the 7 pieces of the BBEG to the corners of the world never to be revived, and the only way the pieces may be reclaimed..... is victory...... IN A CHILDREN'S CARD GAME!!!" DM: F it.... Yugioh themed campaign confirmed

[@darthhatchet]

It's time Du Du Du Du DUEL!

[@smusky4643]

Side quest: The Tipsy Tally. You go to this tavern, you go in, a jolly little place ran by a jolly plump fellow. While ordering a drink, a small coin dragon flys up, holding it's coin, curiously looking at a player, before sniffing them and then landing on their shoulder. They hear "I hope Siffira isn't bothering you.", looking up to see the bar keep smiling brightly. Then Siffira, purring, offers her coin. The bar keep laughs "Oh? You must have a good heart. She rarely lets anyone hold her coin. Be gentle with her, she's the last of my family." Examining the coin, its warm to the touch, a faint reddish gold glow to it, illustrious, a faint buzzing coming from it, almost as if it's happy and alive. If questioned about it, the bar keep explains that his late daughter gave it to him before she died, and his wife died to a fever years ago. She's all he's got left. Time goes by, as night time approaches, a ugly balding goblin comes in and grumbles for some drinks. If the players pass a perception check, they'll notice he keeps eyeing the coin. If confronted, the goblin glowers and says he just likes the shiny it has and goes back to drinking. The goblin leaves after a while Night comes, the party goes to their rooms to sleep, only to hear yelling and things being toppled over. Rushing out they see the goblin booking it out, shocked patrons, and the bar keep weeping, cradling the now limp Saffira, clearly lifeless. He begs you to hunt down the goblin. He'll give you everything he has. If you catch the goblin, you'll find the coin, now plain, cold, the magic gone. Lifeless. There are two possible rewards, if they accept everything the barkeep has, they'll get lots of gold. If they refuse payment, they'll have a undyingly loyal friend and a place to stay for free for ever.

[@Fern-Lynn2411]

"Apparently, Brian has not seen ATLA." Yeah we can tell, lol

[@athena1491]

the secret tunnel chanting was painful

[@CrazyHawkeComics]

3:36 My D&D group actually have a similar running joke to this. In our sessions whenever one of us rolls a nat.1 or other low number during combat, a random villager gets caught in the crossfire and dies instantly, and any other villager that gets in the way look exactly identical to the last. They're all from the Luckless Family, a family notorious for their insanely bad luck and who's numbers are unknown. And no matter where you are, there's always a Luckless just around the corner.

[@justinn8541akaDrPokemon]

For high level players, have a dungeon where the gimic is that every player turns to level one, but it's with a different class build. Like a level 14 cleric will turn to a level 1 bard or something. Also the boss is also suitable for a party of level one players.

[@nicholascasey6473]

I remember that sort of crap from bobs burgers.

[@antijesus7]

Oh, you meant lvl 1, I kept thinking you meant they would turn into a different. PC altogether.

[@justinn8541akaDrPokemon]

@@antijesus7To clarify, they do become level 1, but the characters change classes.

[@smusky4643]

Side quest: The Tipsy Tally. You go to this tavern, you go in, a jolly little place ran by a jolly plump fellow. While ordering a drink, a small coin dragon flys up, holding it's coin, curiously looking at a player, before sniffing them and then landing on their shoulder. They hear "I hope Siffira isn't bothering you.", looking up to see the bar keep smiling brightly. Then Siffira, purring, offers her coin. The bar keep laughs "Oh? You must have a good heart. She rarely lets anyone hold her coin. Be gentle with her, she's the last of my family." Examining the coin, its warm to the touch, a faint reddish gold glow to it, illustrious, a faint buzzing coming from it, almost as if it's happy and alive. If questioned about it, the bar keep explains that his late daughter gave it to him before she died, and his wife died to a fever years ago. She's all he's got left. Time goes by, as night time approaches, a ugly balding goblin comes in and grumbles for some drinks. If the players pass a perception check, they'll notice he keeps eyeing the coin. If confronted, the goblin glowers and says he just likes the shiny it has and goes back to drinking. The goblin leaves after a while Night comes, the party goes to their rooms to sleep, only to hear yelling and things being toppled over. Rushing out they see the goblin booking it out, shocked patrons, and the bar keep weeping, cradling the now limp Saffira, clearly lifeless. He begs you to hunt down the goblin. He'll give you everything he has. If you catch the goblin, you'll find the coin, now plain, cold, the magic gone. Lifeless. There are two possible rewards, if they accept everything the barkeep has, they'll get lots of gold. If they refuse payment, they'll have a undyingly loyal friend and a place to stay for free for ever.

[@f3tsch906]

Pokemon mystery dungeon sky zero one island

[@seanmcfadden3712]

I'm reading Bookstores&Bonedust by Travis Baldree at the moment. It's a prequel to Legends&Lattes, which is the inspiration for this idea. If, due to intentional design structure or your players just wanting a home base, your players constantly return to the same town or city between quests, have a small cafe open up near where they stay. It's run by a retired adventurer, and starts off really rough. As the campaign continues, have the cafe and it's owner's life improve a little each time the players visit. It goes from just having a couple of tables and a counter, from which the owner offers simple coffee, to having more tables, decor and a menu, to eventually having enough customers and traffic for them to have a small stage for entertainment. The staff gradually increases, often with the new hires being misfits who are really good at their jobs. As for the owner, the gradually get more and more comfortable with their new life, get a romantic partner, maybe even get out some old magic items that the party "could use more than I".

[@zackposey592]

Teleporting chickens. They cause no harm but randomly and uncomfortably teleport to random places and go about their business, bawking and eating food

[@andybanan1992]

Man the birthday troll almost made me cry, even the thought of players attacking a depressed troll without friends or family who just wishes to celebrate his birthday...it hurts!

[@Dewald]

I once put in my game. The players heard a knock at the door, and when they opened it, they saw a chest sitting there. When the players go to open the chest, the Mimic opens its eyes, "Please don't touch me." The Mimic tells them. The Mimic is friendly and asks the adventures to help it. The Dougeon it lived in has been overrun with a powerful monster, killing anyone who comes in before Mimic can, and the Mimic is starving. The Mimic heard of the party and requested the party to deal with the monster. An idea I have is the underground Deck of Many Things. A noble has gotten their hand on a Deck of Many things, but instead of pulling from the deck themselves, they throw an underground party where all the rich and powerful go in costume and wearing masks. The nobles have gotten willing people, nobles, Commers, Adventurers, and whoever, and offer a lot of money for them to pull a card at the party while the rich and powerful watch in delight. I call it a pull party.

[@arsenaultguillaume1466]

Here's one. That comfy rock you camped and slept leaned on was a cleverly camouflaged Tortle. If you are attacked, it will assist the Party. In the Morning, it will prepare breakfast before parting way. If they leave in the direction he/she travelled from, it will inform them of nearby points of interest.

[@williamstokes4282]

An idea I've had for a while is a character named Tobias Rex, who the players will hear about many times as someone who could prove helpful navigating the jungle. The thing that would not be revealed to the players until they meet Tobias, for some reason no-one mentions it, is that Tobias is an awakened T-Rex wearing a tailored tailcoat and magically secured top hat. He speaks like a proper gentleman. When I read the Awaken spell I wondered wait any beast, T-Rex are beasts therefore some crazy druid at some point must have awakened a T-Rex.

[@runikvarze6191]

One of the most wild ideas I've come across is a village of carnivorous fairies. They use illusion magic and physical disguises to appear as various other creatures while they subtly try to take bites of the party. Meanwhile, they're using fey illusory magic to keep the party from finding their way out.

[@DHTheAlaskan]

A potted cactus without spines that is psionically able to help ease trauma. It wears groucho-marx glasses and has a name tag reading "Mr. Prickles The Therapy Cactus."

[@readingking1421]

I love this now.

[@DHTheAlaskan]

@@readingking1421 I uses this to troll an overly edgy character in one of my games.

[@readingking1421]

@@DHTheAlaskan Oh come on please give us more details! I need this story

[@DHTheAlaskan]

@davidfisk9106 wasn't much of a story, he was being annoying with his edgelording and I had the cactus constantly near him psychically soothing the trauma of his past.

[@readingking1421]

@@DHTheAlaskan Ah. Well, still an excellent and funny concept.

[@Jaronius]

I had to improve a prequel because some of the group wanted their characters not to be complete strangers. On the spot, I made an underground gladiator arena in the city where the campain started. In a stadium that was buried long ago and uncovered by an entrepreneurial crime boss, my players became part of a fight between the 4 steam punk mech suited stars and this week's team of a dozen or so contestants fighting for their life and a chance at glory. One player severely wounded one of the mech pilots before they realized it was a show fight and everything was fake. After that, they did their best campy wrestler act, commandeered the wounded pilots suit, and gave the crowd a good show. This also gave them an "in" with the crime boss later in the story. Their prize was tickets to the riverboat casino that was the actual start to the campaign.

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

A Ferengi Mercenary, who always follows the Rules of Acquisition in every decision he makes. He wields a heavy crossbow because it's symbolic of knowing a good deal; it deals 1d12 per round, EXACTLY as much as Eldritch Blast, which some adventurers sold their soul for.

[@2ndtolastform]

I had an idea for an early-mid game recurring villain group. The Risen Arms, a mercenary band known for being ruthless, cutthroat, and efficient. What people dont know is that all the members are sentient weapons True Polymorphed into humanoids. They hate adventurers for using them as tools and casting them aside for better gear

[@Uhhhhhhhhhhh6]

That's amazing

[@kyhawkeye]

In my homebrew world, there is a 'chainstore' for magic items. One location in each town. Non-descript, blue colored building, Nothing on the shelves, you just walk up to the older looking gentleman, Mr. Tardi. You ask for an item, then he goes through a doorway that is actually a portal to their cental storage location on another plane. When he comes out, he looks different. The shop is called Tardi's, and every time they go in and out of the portal they are a different version of The Doctor from Doctor Who....

[@tzisorey]

A minotaur npc who owns a bookstore, and is unaware that anyone who goes back into the stacks will get lost in the labyrinth of shelves (unaware partly because "its bigger on the inside" and partly because he can find any book just a few corners away) but if you search long enough, you can find any information, any map, any spell tome....

[@everyday4play401]

I use a naked crazy old man they can find anywhere in all of my campaigns. Through riddles he foreshadows major plot points but they’re so vague it’s not saying much of anything really.

[@ChungusTheLarge]

Diogenes cameo

[@GymbalLock]

A magic pitcher that never runs out of water was tipped over in a ruin. Over decades, the valley filled with fresh water. This extends the territory of some water fairies, but encroaches on the human farmland as the magical lake continues to grow larger each year.

[@Uhhhhhhhhhhh6]

Oooh, unintended consequences of seemingly benign magic items as an adventure plot point! Nice.

[@GymbalLock]

@@Uhhhhhhhhhhh6 yeah, I'd actually like to write this one as an adventure, even though I tend toward science fiction over fantasy.

[@smtmonke]

Heres a magic item I used as not only a DM tool, but also an actually helpful reward that isn't just do more damage in combat. Ring of Distant Projections (Attunement) - 3 charges (Recharge/Day = 1d4-1); For 1 Hour or until Dispelled (By you or through Dispel [DC 20]), Within 5 miles, project a figure of yourself that looks exactly like you. You can use your action to use it's senses, and talk through it, but not physically interact with objects or creatures. Use your action again to switch back. Creatures with Truesight can see through this, or those without can do a DC 20 Arcana, Insight, or Perception to see through the illusion. Used it on a BBEG to have him stalk and harass the party as they slowly made their way towards him. Not only is it really funny, but it's not completely imbalanced towards the wielder. As an extra ruling, if you don't want the players to just use the ring to scout out areas they've never seen, have it require that the character using the ring must have seen or actually even been to the destination they are trying to project into.

[@Cortanis001]

Personally one of the things I liked playing with was factions. Not just "there is a cult of (insert thing here) located in (insert region here)" plot element use thing, but working factions that you could pick up jobs from, work with them, and get services from. I'm not just simply talking about guilds but said cult example isn't just some nutter cult but if the proper steps are taken you can work with them on whatever objectives you might hash out. Example. One campaign I was playing in we ran into a necromancer cult. While we did initially clear half the dungeon map, leave it to the bard to start talking to the cultists. That's when we turned it into a neutral encounter type of thing. The cult was literally studying the undead from an academic sense but they still needed "materials" to study in the first place. As it happened due to the natural setting, they were counting on the usual rumor mill to attract hapless adventurers that would likely die being idiots trying to face tank study subject which would lead to them becoming the study subjects. We ended up getting contracted by them to approach the jails for towns and kingdoms to dispose of the pauper's cadavers and especially get our hands on the bodies of the worst criminals they had. We ended up getting a very particular special bag of holding that was designed to hold the dead bodies and had slots for them. We called it the "mortician's bag" for most of the game.

[@mech-hands4594]

Rock of pet rock summoning: you can cast find familiar to find hector the rock, unfortunately he can’t come to you, but both of you know where the other is,hector has proficiency in cooking but he can’t cook because he has no limbs, he also likes long walks on the beach but he needs his owner to carry him around, Hector acts as a therapist to the owner and the party, a talk with Hector can possibly give 1d6 inspiration.

[@justalemon965]

Yes. Just yes. I was trying to think of a way to just put a pet rock in my campaign and this is amazing. Though I think I’ll do a combo of this and a weeping angel. It moves but only when people aren’t watching. It cooks for the party after long rests, sleeps in hotel rooms, and just moves around the world.

[@AJVulpes]

I've had this goofy idea for a while. It's a trio of craftsmen, a gnome, an elf and a dwarf. They all talk big about how their part of the work done is better than the other two, but combined their contraptions and weapons are near legendary status. How they function is as follows: the gnome dreams up the idea and makes a super rough prototype, usually is beyond crazy and infeasible. Thw dwarf looking at the plans then makes something within the gnomes idea, though out of something that is more just dwarven related, but not enchanted or magical, just really good craftsmanship. The elf also makes his own version, but it's usually elegant and frail, but does basically the same thing as the gnome and dwarf make, but is inherently magical. When the 3 finally put their rulers away and work together, they take the best parts of each contraption and make it into a near legendary item.

[@roast_mutton_chops]

just thought of this one: a dungeon inhabited by a monster which is sensitive to light and noise. a voice-activated light is keeping it away from where the players are. players must make noise to keep the light on, but the monster will lash out to attack them if they do so, so they must keep changing location/get creative with the way they make sound.

[@Sorain1]

While traveling, the players come across a band of badly beaten adventurers limping toward the nearest settlement. They refuse to explain what happened, but appear to have been clawed to pieces by something apparently too embarrassing to admit to being forced to flee from. (If the party does manage to find out: It was a full Congress of Ravens that tore them apart. Example reason: A Raven that could speak showed up while they were camping and asked for a bit of food, when one of them offered it some, it instantly called them out as liars and called the rest of them to attack.) A pair of adult Dragons of types that should be enemies are camped at the side of the road. They're discussing painting trends in some land the party's never heard of. A really tough check for History or Religion reveals it is a civilization wiped out thousands of years ago, the Two dragons meet to discuss the topic because no one else shares their interest. A single magical ring lies in the road, gleaming. If anyone dares to wear it, they find that it lets them know the vague direction and distance to someone else, who seems to be in good health and who's mood differs over time. This is the only magical property it has. (It's one of a linked pair of rings that lets each know of the other. The other singleton is on a former adventurer currently busy in a city/town/settlement so they can't spare the time to go looking for the ring's new wearer.) The next time they pass through a town or settlement, there is a musician singing songs and playing in a square. A powerful Angel (or equivalent good outsider being of terrific power) is happily listening, because they happen to enjoy the amateur's performance. The party needs to cross a bridge and when they turn past an obstruction to see it, they find a massacre. A half dozen obvious bandits corpses are nearly painted across the scene, a single set of bloody footprints leading across the bridge suggests someone in armored boots proved vastly too much for them. (Someone with tracking can discern that there really wasn't a 'fight' as much as 'one person annihilated them in seconds.' going on.) The next time the party gets rumors or news, they hear about 'bandits trying tolls on bridges'. That last one is a little nod to the whole 'a few bandits trying to extort your stupidly powerful character' so often ran into in RPG videogames.

[@UruruIsDelulu]

this man is casually carrying my college lunchbreaks

[@BrianVaughnVA]

How's college and what ya in for?

[@UruruIsDelulu]

@BrianVaughnVA it's going very well thanks! I'm studying photography and videography which is very fun :)

[@devilishfamily9787]

In my campaign, some people can obtain mythical animal companions, not just a familiar. They can infact die and send a character into an emotional spiral.

[@numbskullsncrossbones]

How about Pot Goblins? No, not goblins that smoke pot, but small goblins that are a rare type of fey creature who use their many clay pots to teleport back and forth all over the material realm, wherever they happen to be traded or scattered. They have their own little pocket dimension where they all live, and are rarely seen but they make a living as theives getting their grabby little hands anything nearby that's not bolted down and try selling them in the Feywild. However, if a party is lucky enough to catch one in the act, or offers a special item to one spying on the party, it will offer it's services, offering up various mundane and magical items for sell. It's rare but they can also be found setting up shops in corners of empty dungeons and dark allyways of cities. They are a non-violent type of fey and will never steal off a living person, but if found in a dangerous situation, they have a slew of high-level magic spells that can devastate players. Inspired by those pot goblin creatures from some old Final Fantasy JRPG games I played as a kid. I've never seen them used in any tabletop games and I think it could add a bit charm to any game. Originally you'd have to use and Elixer on them and they'd drop a random rare item before fleeing combat, but attacking one either cuases it to run or hit you with a deadly spell. If you kill one, you get nothing.

[@rawrpopsicles]

a game i like to play with my text rp group is The Soup. I usually run it with my sorcerer character who just keeps making soup in a magic cauldron. the soup is different every time someone takes a sip (think the neopets soup kitchen) and the soup eater rolls up to 1000 (i have many different lists of effects) and that happens to them for a d4 duration ( where d1 is an hour, d2 is 6 hours, d3 is 24 hours and d4 is a week unless the effect of the soup is an instant thing such as being teleported into the nearest body of water). let me tell you. people have eaten these soup events up so much!! some effects are silly like “your character is now blue” or can spur some interesting character development “your elf is now a gnome for [time]!”

[@twinkdeer174]

I'd love to get my hands on the full Soup table, if you'd be so inclined!

[@GarrettFruge]

I thought the one about the whole dungeon being a Mimic was pretty cool. I also liked the immortal tavern keeper, his backstory has a Highlander "Who Wants to Live Forever?" feel to it.

[@seath8055]

The god(dess) of the dead pulls double duty as the god(dess) of alcohol. They have domain over more than just one type of spirit.

[@paigeepler]

Nephthys be like

[@bgjones973]

How in the hell has Brian not seen ATLA

[@BrianVaughnVA]

I saw it as a teen-ish and I never really got into it. It seemed overly quirky and goofy, so I never understood the hype. So as an adult I never looked at it lol. Heresy, I know.

[@luciferandassociates9255]

I have two. 1: The Multiverse Trader and His Mom. It's a Small child who does random trades with the party but he doesn't take coins but other items he thinks his cool. You can try to swelled him but his mother won't allow you to just out right rob him, so it's a fine line of talking a child into trading like they are trading cards. 2: Magical Las Vegas, there are a ton of quick and easy dice, card and race games you can do online and there is a bunch of quest that can happen in the magical city of sin.

[@-Commit-arson-]

If you have speak with animals in my campaigns you can barter with (big)spiders You basically just offer them fresh meat or coin (depending on the spider) and they will try and acquire said goods with whatever they found in their domain Usually it’s other types of fresh meat or coinage, and the occasional weapon, but occasionally (decided by a D100 and DM willingness) the spiders might give you some interesting items Once i gave my players a severed finger with a ring of poison resist attached to it (obviously didn’t help previous owner against the spiders) And when they got to a town during a different session they found a traveling merchant in a trenchcoat and fedora, that was just a colony of small spiders trading odds and ends and communicating with other merchants/travelers with a magic language necklace Their name was Wilbur’s (:

[@billcox8870]

I heard about that rock that emits a blue light. It belong to a traveling Merchant named Korvath. He would have that over the table with his limited time specials that ran for about 15 minutes at a time. I liked shopping at his traveling Market or Mart so to speak.

[@bitmaster64]

Oh my God you clever sneak, I love it, and wonder who else got the reference xD

[@billcox8870]

@bitmaster64 there was one near me in the 80s.

[@billcox8870]

@@bitmaster64 I wonder if anyone else will figure out what I was referring to.

[@dragonickmaster]

lately I've been considering having a Dark Fae based on the original version of Peter Pan where they kidnap kids, the kids slowly forget they have families and are orphans and when they get to old the Dark Fae kills them. The parties allies to stop the Fae? A group of pirates, and no clock eating croc in site! also if I get the chance I will 100% add the troll birthday party to one of my campaigns. it's such a wholesome and fun thing to do!

[@Uhhhhhhhhhhh6]

What if instead of killing them they just reverted their age and reset their memories, that could also be effed up.

[@dragonickmaster]

@@Uhhhhhhhhhhh6 Very true!

[@Uhhhhhhhhhhh6]

And perhaps for the crocodile it could be a banderhobb like creature (perhaps in this universe they can take other reptilian forms besides frogs) that was created by the fae so they can track down the pirates and prevent then from intervening. By eating the captain's pocket watch, it's able to always know the crew's location and ambush them. But unbeknownst to it, the watch was a mundane magical item designed to prevent those embarrassing "where the fuck are my keys?!!" Moments by having it's ticking be audible to whoever attuned to it whenever it's displaced, and by eating it, the captain knows whenever the banderhobb is nearby, but the crew doesn't believe him and just think he's having a hysterical PTSD induced panic attack, despite the banderhobb seeming to coincidentally strike the crew near those moments.

[@dragonickmaster]

@@Uhhhhhhhhhhh6 omg, this is _amazing_ XD

[@Uhhhhhhhhhhh6]

​​@@dragonickmaster Did youtube Just delete my reply?! I can't see it. If so that is a bitch move by youtube.

[@pizzafire6666]

Like trenchcoat goblins: Brains where intelligence is HP but has to read to heal, and losses intelligence when hurt so your mage might become a 1 hp toothpick, could be a BBEG or a player character

[@pizzafire6666]

tons of gimmicks and ideas with this, maybe a spell to split themselves and become 2 weaker variants, will split the lvl as well so no OP clone things and only one can lvl up again

[@PedroHenrique-kn8wy]

Put a character surrounded in mystery and let your player theorise about it. It makes the player really invested in the campaing and opens a path to really cool story troupes.

[@bunnymeadows1228]

*Roles insight on the 8-ball*

[@sillerbarly4927]

11:55 is ita Tarrasque since they can technically do that

[@MechbossBoogie]

We need to throw a super soft birthday party for Brian.

[@BrianVaughnVA]

I would love that!

[@slashandbones13]

A town being occupied by a group of human, half orc, and orc raiders with a somewhat honorable orc leader, his human wife, and his more savage, violent at the drop of a hat half orc third in command.

[@thetwojohns6236]

In my world, anytime someone finds a scroll, there is a 5% chance the scroll is marked with an X. If these marked scrolls are used, the player rolls on the wild surge table. If this results in a success, continue as indicated. Otherwise, follow the surge result as indicated. Or feel free to embed a plot hook into the result. A nice insidious one would be using a marked fireball on the BBEG, only to have the scroll fail and open a connection to a planar being, such as something in the Abyss. And it's willing to negotiate to help... All these marked scrolls exist out in the world because, long ago, a powerful wizards daughter used to steal the imperfectly made scrolls from her mother's and the local magic academy's trashcans She would then give them out to adventurers and mercenaries to help them in their quests. Now, hundreds of years later, no one knows who, what, or why these scrolls are around. And they are rare enough that not many even know they exist, let alone what they do.

[@Xecryo]

Ok here's one but it would take a great deal of work between players and DM and even then I'm not sure how well it would work. The players "start" at level 20, they wake up and see the BBEG defeated, but with no memory of anything beyond them entering a tavern (at level 1). They are soon greeted by the people they rescued and they tell the PCs of their valiant battle which is the first encounter of the game. They then retrace their steps to try and regain their memory of what happened. A lot of the combat and actual game will be the players having flashbacks as Players and DM try and write a story in reverse and going DOWN in level as they regain more memories and go into the past. Watch as your players make tough choices. It's easy to pick spells you want, it's harder to decide what spell you get rid off as you "unlearn" it.

[@artiemauve7025]

not the birthday troll makin me sob over my grilled cheese

[@BrianVaughnVA]

I KNOW IT MADE ME CRY TOO!

[@nabra97]

Not mine, but it was a joke rather than an idea initially. There is a symbolic system in the world (possibly related to symbols of gods or something like that) that is used during wars and other disastrous situations to tell allies from enemies and to let people know where they may look for help. This system is accepted and generally honored by most developed civilizations. BBEG uses it for deception, bonus points if it leads players to accidentally attack somebody they didn't want to attack or be attacked by their allies. The original quote was something like "Instructions [on how to make BBEG irredeemable by making them a war criminal] unclear, my BBEG raised the red cross over their base".

[@mikewithington4755]

A minatour in a China shop. In short it is a minatour in a shop that makes and sells pottery. To spice it up, add a rival pottery shop that is run by a centaur and have the party pick a side.

[@yarion4774]

Not a Loxodon?

[@mikewithington4755]

@@yarion4774 A, i have no idea what a loxadon is so I can't say if it would fit better or not. B, the difference in problems between the minatour and centaur are different, minatour has a problem with picking up delicate objects, while the centaur has to worry about how they maneuver around their shop

[@Jfreek5050]

A simple shop that sells a plethora of interesting items, that for some reason all the guards are scared of because of a recent tax dispute with the owner. Turns out about a third of all the items you can buy are mimics. They are his guard dogs.

[@demichirua]

Oh I love the birthday troll!!!!!!

[@princealigorna7468]

The Gothic Ambient group Nox Arcana has a series of holiday albums based on a village called Ebonshire that would make a cool setting. It exist past the candlelit path through the dark forest and just beyond the old cobblestone bridge over the creek. It's a village stuck in time, where old holiday traditions play on a loop and ghosts abound, protected by 3 guardians: the Winter Knight, the ghost of a wayward knight who haunts and protects the ruins of the original town cathedral, and the White Queen and Winter King, elemental spirits who control the region's dreams and weather respectively. Given that Joseph Vargo is a former member of Midnight Syndicate, who released a soundtrack for D&D 3.5e, even better

[@theofficerfactory2625]

A trio of elven female adventures who are triplets that the party encounters in a tavern. Eli (bard), Liza (fighter) and Beth (Wizard. She wears glasses).

[@LegendStormcrow]

In a world that abandoned god, there was a family of brewers. This family became obsessed with with healing people without the use of magic, and they succeeded in creating such an item. The family created Grimwine, which contrary to the name is a liquor, and is named thus because every son of the family has "grim" contained in his name. How did this drink make it to your world? Who knows? But it'll cure what ales ya (alcohol pun intended) Just make sure you don't operate any carts after imbibing, because it kicks like Fargrim's mule Charisma (named cuz she has none)

[@zeehero7280]

Bork Nork the Science ork is at least far superior to his real life counterpart!

[@WDSimp]

Master Wimp-Lo. There's this monk who is ridiculously overconfident of his own fighting prowess and will routinely challenge opponents who are clearly more powerful than he is: which includes your players. He challenges one of them to combat in a populated area where, frustratingly, they aren't going to be able to kill him outright. Town guards will let a beating slide but you'll get arrested for murder. This is extra frustrating because the monk believes that being beaten senseless is the goal of fighting and bleeding makes him the victor. You see, his master disliked him and trained him wrong, as a joke. But he keeps showing up. Each time, the monk has a progressively larger and larger following of learners and admirers that he will preach his 'wisdom' to. And they believe him, no matter how many times your players beat the heck out of him. Let this go on for long enough and you can add a new location to your world - a martial arts school where the monk teaches hundreds of students his unique brand of fighting. He also now considers the player to be a friend, and will introduce them to third parties as his "greatest rival" and that the player has "never defeated me, despite trying for many years".

[@godsamongmen8003]

Just recently I wanted to have a proper christmas adventure. So my group woke up to total mayhem. Little green monsters were destroying the town. The short version is that there was a little toy that would cheer people up by absorbing their bad emotions. The bad emotions would coalesce physically into the monsters which killed people and got into all kinds of mischeif. I was ripping of Gremlins and had the toy instead of a mogwai getting into chicken.

[@blackangel1158]

I made a witch that doesnt really fight but rather likes to mess with people. After my players pissed her off royally, she cadted a spell that didnt come into effect until the next session where she swapped out the souls and put them into the others body. It was definitely fun to watch them struggle to adapt to playing a different style than they normally would.

[@levir6958]

I don't know who your new editor is, but Sir/Madam, you are noticed and appreciated.

[@michaelkraus2495]

Where is the text on the last 2 min of the video?

[@JohnSmith-tc7ti]

Yeah right at 12:05 !

[@jamestaylor3805]

A tulip based economy.(See Dutch history) A flood that brings crocs into the city streets.(See coastal histories) A hated invading empire that tells conquered communities that they get to self manage now and can't discriminate against any religion.(See mongol empire) A network of intelligence operatives who use extinct languages to transfer coded messages in a secure way.(See WWII code talkers) Actors in the midst of psychotic breaks after getting entangled in an actual adventure. (See Tropic Thunder) A gnomish inventor who discovers a strange new species of mischievous creatures. (See Gremlins) A minstrel desperate to follow the party and sing of their exploits in rather insulting ways. (See The Brave Sir Robin) A campaign that starts at upper mid levels as a collection of former special operatives dragged out of retirement because a soon to be king wants to get rid of the liability. (See Red) A peaceful village of fishermen and surfers. That's it. Just a peaceful village with calm vibes and nothing nefarious attached to it. In fact it's so peaceful there must be something going on, right? In the midst of a fast and heavy campaign full of intrigue nothing drives the party crazier than looking for something that isn't there.

[@yarion4774]

On the last point. Why tho? To whatend would that be fun for anyone but the DM? Unless it's framed as a vacationof sorts, just some neat RP before more stuff happens. The DM gives hooks. The party would have a reason to go there in the first place. Once they finish their business and the DM doesn't actively try to mislead them into thinking there is more going on, they would just leave and do whatever else they were doing. A party will always find a way to overcomplicate things, no matter where they are.

[@jamestaylor3805]

@@yarion4774 read your last sentence and apply it to what I said and realize you wrote what I implied.

[@yarion4774]

@@jamestaylor3805 and this, kids, is why reading full paragraphs thoroughly is important.

[@jamestaylor3805]

Because you cannot prove a negative so to speak, perception checks can only be spoken of in absolutes when one finds something. The party will do things to themselved based on the lack of absolute verbiage, especially after an actual roll. Should the DM innocuously describe a peaceful beach life village and a PC states having a feeling so they want to roll a check you let them. And then, no matter how high the roll is, you must say something like "it seems like a calm peaceful place". They will key in on that word 'seems', and spend half a session on high alert in what was a throw away location.

[@jamestaylor3805]

@@yarion4774 do i need to spell out in no uncertain terms "They did it to themselves."?

[@hologaster]

9:14 even though today is not my birthday, but I still want to say thanks. As I also don't have an actual birthday party aside from my family saying happy birthday and such. Yeah, I know this feeling and a have cried a little.

[@BrianVaughnVA]

Love you Holo! You're not alone.

[@hologaster]

@@BrianVaughnVA Thanks.

[@BrianVaughnVA]

And thank you @@hologaster for choosing to tell the world your story. I know the world is kind of lonesome these days for all of us regardless of race, gender, age, name it - so whatever we can do as strangers to perk someone else up.. we should. So when your birthday comes around comment on a video if we have one out then and if possible, someone will at least say happy birthday. You're good.

[@hologaster]

@@BrianVaughnVA I will, but it would need to wait.

[@Blazingstudios882]

Gangsters trying to summon demons

[@GhostCryProductions]

The little blue glowing pebble turns out to be an orphan source of cesium-137. Anyone foolish enough to pick up the pebble will hear in their native language “drop and run” and failing the save will be compelled to drop it and run as though under a suggestion spell. You do not want to succeed on this save; on the other hand, this is a great way to deal with players who cheat or otherwise dishonestly play the game.

[@PantherCat64]

A dragon that’s basically a tired mother for their gang of kobolds, the dragon means no harm but there’s a massive bounty because some of her said kobolds keep running amuck. If the players find and capture the mischievous kobolds they’ll plea for the party to not bring them to the dragon, if the party ignores this and does so anyway, they’ll see a massive dragon giving a lecture to the kobolds before putting them in time out. If the players decide to talk to the dragon, she’ll ask for things to help her migraine, after completing the quest, the party can come back any time to help around the cave, cooking, sweeping, putting the kobolds to bed, ect. and they’ll be highly rewarded for it. Grandma pastry, she’s just a simple old sweet lady who runs a bakery. Her baked goods tasting so amazing you’d be convinced you just drank a potion, but there’s nothing, it’s really just that good. And inexpensive too. The magical ring of disappointment, this ring when worn makes the person feel disappointed that nothing happened. The gloves of inconvenience, they can never stay on when you need them and will get stuck when you want to take them off, upon further examination, you’d realize they have no magic properties, they are just really really poorly made. The spork of comedic timing, piece of utensil that while useful in its own right, also seems to have the ability to do just about anything as long as the timing is funny enough. Throw it at group of orcs and it’ll somehow hit something that’ll sweep them away at the most hilarious moment possible, the spork also is loyal to its owner, it will somehow come back no matter what shenanigans you put it through, though it can’t protect you or your friends from dying or getting hurt, it’s not a miracle worker.

[@Nostripe361]

Well you could do what our dm did and have zombie vampire babies attacking a ton. Our artificer made a magic car. For one session we were even able to add on a Gatling spell scroll canon Other than that have something weird like fighter pc who goes on adventures to force people to drink his fantastical beer

[@ProfessorWowa]

11:35 Shadow of Israphel reference lol, a lot of Minecraft RP seems to make it's way into D&D stories

[@G-Cole-01]

Have the entire campaign world be an infinite 20-degree angled slope. It'd still have normal terrain, it just generally keeps in line with the slope apart from rare large outcroppings or caverns.

[@robertheinrich2994]

the magic 8ball that says the truth once a day. if you want a rollercoaster for the DM and the party, you could do this: the magic 8 ball makes one random thing true per day. could be massively plot destroying if done improperly and might require dice-fudging or better the DM just decides which thing he wants to make true. the queen has a secret lover? bam, now the secret lover is a thing (either one of her staff becomes her lover or the lover just starts existing)

[@Eddiember]

Have a dragon task the party with mundane task that mortals find annoying, but supersized. My favourite is having the party fold the Dragon's Bedding, and then they get to the Fitted Sheets.

[@MrMustang1116]

I'm so sad Brian Von THE VA here has not seen avatar the last Airbender. He would've sung "SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL! THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN! SECRET, SECRET, SECRET, SECRET TUNNEEEEEEEL! YEAH!"

[@BrianVaughnVA]

Yeahhhh I never saw Avatar and never really gave it a second thought as an adult, always thought it was a bit annoying when I was younger so I just never tried it again :( Also - I love how the editor calls me VON.

[@SuperGamersgames]

There are a couple of ways to make me cry visibly. One of them is someone celebrating their birthday by themselves in a way that implies more people ought to be present.

[@yungo1rst]

Flumph swarm. Instead of damage, they are protection against mind control while inside their radius. The party must politely talk with them once per round to give directions. every 4 rounds they give a healing word level 1 to each character inside their radius. Their quest is to rescue prisoners of aboleth or mindflayers sent on a raid on docks. They only damage enemy aberrations.

[@silvergreylion]

By solving a quest for an ancient powerful hag, each party member could gain the ability to summon a small elemental entity, which they could choose to control in combat instead of using their own turn. The ability would stem from a runic "tattoo" imparted by the hag. The entity can only be summoned once after a short or long rest, and has hp one third that of the summoner, and stays summoned for one hour. This would allow a non-arcane, melee character to do ranged, magical attacks without it being too overpowered. For example, a hovering ball of fire, which would try to set an enemy on fire, or heat their weapon or armor enough to make them drop it / take it off. Could also imbue a weapon with fire damage. Another, an air vortex, which could move an enemy some small distance, or have a good chance to knock them prone. Or a ball of water, which would try to suffocate an enemy, or turn the ground to slippery ice. They'd have to destroy it to get rid of it, hurting themself in the process, and waste at least one turn. Or a ball of mud, which could cover their eyes, so they'd be blind until removed by force, again hurting themself and wasting a turn. Or a ball of lightning, which could shock an enemy, lowering their chance to hit, or imbue a weapon or multiple weapons with lightning damage temporarily.

[@solalabell9674]

Ok but does anyone know when brian’s birthday is? I think we have a side quest to complete now

[@TheDuelManiacs]

That lobster princess was straight from a webcomic called Cursed Princess Club

[@jonathancarlson6127]

I include missions that have effects on the economy. So when you re-open a gold mine, your gold is less valuable in that area. Or if you destroy a Wyvern nest, the local forest game begin to thrive again. Stuff like that for more economic minded parties

[@billbishop6109]

A troll that is guarding a bridge, but instead of fighting the party, wants them to listen to his poetry, and comment on how good it was. Think like Vogons from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

[@hoi-polloi1863]

Something I've done a time or two. If I'm trying to create a sense of menace in a town (people all looking down, hurrying home, almost scurrying), and the PCs aren't picking up on it... eventually I'll just give up and tell the PCs "You see a couple of guys carrying a big sheet of plate glass across the street". That *instantly* gets them on high alert and actively paying attention to their surroundings.

[@nightdragon9375]

A tiny (around 2 ½ feet tall) red fur covered demon from hell who roams around grappling people and infecting them with the tickle virus. The virus makes them giggle uncontrollably until they succumb and become tickle zombies and seek to spread the virus. The hellspawn is disarmingly cute and speaks in a high pitched voice and refers to itself on the 3rd person. It's name is Hellmo!

[@ShadowLorn]

I wanna give Brian a really big hug 😢

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

The npc named "OL' BOOOOOB JACKSON!" Who is a tall, wiry old man with a thin white beard who always speaks in a loud, throaty screech, similar to Old Man McGuckett from Gravity Falls, and wields an Oar, always having it in his hands and using it to interact with the world. He is not just AN inkeeper, he is THE inkeeper. He runs every inn/bar in the setting, and sees everything any one of the OL' BOOOOOB JACKSONS see, like a hivemind. This is because he's actually the avatars of a God of Innkeeping. The Locals know about him, and are used to him. Whenever your players enter an inn or bar, OL' BOOOOOOB JACKSON greets them loudly in his signature screech, but is always friendly and kind, asking how their day was, offering to help them out occasionally, and generally being a kind old barkeep/inkeeper. When one of your players inevitably gets tired of the voice, and attacks him, he easily outplays them and non-lethally dispatches them with his size-changing Oar, 10 very strong magical attacks per turn, and armor class of 50, so a Nat 20 DOES NOT hit. His wiry limbs bend unnaturally to dodge attacks and he moves VERY fast if need be. If the players accept Old Bob Jackson, he catches wind of when the party is going to confront the BBEG, and gives them his "Good Luck Charm", a small pewter model of an anchor, that gives the party +1 on all rolls, and should they fail against the BBEG, "OL' BOOOOOB JACKSON COMES OUT TO GIVE MY PALS A HELPIN' HAND!!!" Res's the party, and joins the fight. He uses an Oar and has the charm as an anchor because he was originally an oceanic god of Safe Harbor, and grew popular enough to Manifest further and further inland. Not only is Old Bob Jackson a scolding for murderhobos, he's a test to see of the party will look past appearances(and voices) and will see the man for the kind, benevolent fellow he is. If they do, they are rewarded with a good friend, and help in their time of direst need. Anyone can feel free to use this guy, I came up with him but haven't been able to use him for a campaign, so feel free to put him in your settings, GM's, and make sure to perfect your Old Man McGuckett impression first.

[@adamjensen7870]

I love the shrinking bar

[@savonnapayne3096]

Have a gnome NPC that is evil level 16 dragon wings and a fucking machine gun lets see how long it takes to mow them down. (Maybe give the some OP amoar for the fight that crumbles after :)

[@Matt-the-sink]

I think that first one was my friend. We're in a campaign and his character is an artificer orc named.. you guessed it.. bork nork the science orc

[@LordDrail]

I popped in a young goblin child trying to catch a fairy dragon in a net as the party was entering a town. I think the idea went over their heads as I was trying to reference something as a gag.

[@sherylcascadden4988]

My birthday is next month..... I'll be 64.

[@BrianVaughnVA]

And may it be a good birthday. Please have a safe and happy one.

[@sherylcascadden4988]

@@BrianVaughnVA thank you.

[@warrenokuma7264]

help wanted Desperately need to stop Adventures that break in and use spiked traps to tenderize meat. To stop them from stealing acid from acid traps (they use it to pickle vegetables) Falling block traps to press clothes. Using the rolling stone ball for cardio. Please Help! Xactoful the Lich.

[@ReinaSaurus]

another defintion of common, exotic and monstrous species

[@The_Aro_Ace_Link]

I tried to run a campaign where the villain wasn't fully in the world yet. The villain was an incarnate version of the remnants of an evil that had been destroyed only months before the campaign started. Basically, I had the villain possess a member of the party. The mechanic was going to be that every now and again, I could roll to override the player's action and replace it with something that the villain would do (the context being that be using a host body to spread chaos, it would allow the villain to gain power until it could make a corporeal form for itself). Over the course of the campaign, the dice that I would roll would get smaller and smaller until I used a coin flip to determine whether or not the action would be replace. Eventually, I was going to have the villain fully possess the character, wreaking havoc until it made a body for itself. The best part: the party member was a lawful good paladin.

[@LeonardAndHisBiscuit]

Bork Nork the Science Orc is the most Reddit thing I think I've heard this week, and I need to take a break before I get sick.

[@mdalsted]

12:06 Um... What happened to the text?

[@BrianVaughnVA]

GRRRRRRRREAT question!

[@zachm5485]

I have an npc that shows up in every campaign, even those of a different setting, usually against her will, and she gains something related to that campaign, also usually against her will. She’s a draconic sorcerer, druid, partial mind flayer, and is at the risk of becoming of becoming a vampire

[@BigSepps]

Johnny "Highkick". Inventor, Practioner, teacher of, and first victim of the "Johnny HighKick" highkick kick.

[@postapocalypticnewsradio]

PANR has tuned in.

[@nicholasjelks834]

The weird contradiction on the magic 8 balls one accurate answer being "Ask again later"

[@benrichardson5662]

Judeas Benedirt, the most loyal NPC. He will stick by your heroes through thick and thin, and won't desert them no matter what. He probably won't last because his name is but it would be funny to watch your players second guess his every move, not knowing he has absolutely no ulterior motive.

[@kyleward3914]

The used bag of holding reminds me of the Bindle of Holding I've given out. You can only get it by saving a hobo's life. It functions as a normal bag of holding except with a chance of pulling out some random, mostly useless item instead of what you wanted.

[@Valysion]

6:52 i think it's an arx fatalis reference. There was a troll or ogre who just wanted a friend and a birthday present from a friend.

[@shaunabbott8078]

Prof number times per day the players can roll on a chart to add a spell spell to their attacks. 1-5 do damage. 6-10 debuff. 11-15 heal the opponent. 16-20 buff the opponent.

[@janbastyr5223]

A tavern in large round building or tower, but on the inside the walls are jaged like a saw or a cog wheel. In each teath is small table with one chair. So everyone can sit alone and brood in a corner. Obviously favorite tavern for all rogues in the city