Steal This Side Quest: Fiend terrorizes magic school [Wisteria]

[@bekahcarroll2647]

Okay, but I adore Wisteria's name. 'Wisteria Skitterquick Appledackle' is so charming and whimsical!

[@WardNightstone]

i would exspect nothign less from a Gnome created by ginny

[@drskelebone]

Scrolled down literally to write that exact sentiment. :D

[@VulcanWolf]

I am not ashamed to admit I chuckled like a delighted schoolboy when I heard her name. I absolutely love it.

[@colnagocowboy]

My GM said characters is his world gave lyrica musical names. So i named my charater Essa Peca Solonin.

[@validtangent]

"Steal This Side Quest" is my favorite series! The cuts between the character presenting as an in-game quest giver and your narration as the DM sets the scene so well, like we're at the table!

[@irregularassassin6380]

I think Ms. Appledackle might find more luck in the School of Illusion. She'll either be a harm to no one, or pioneer the most hazardous illusion yet devised! Either way, it's a success for her.

[@deviousdelibird]

She probably didn't wanna be a stereotype, lol!

[@kvanm030]

An illusion can kill you if you believe in it. -Jarlaxle

[@CappyK]

the pained squeak in "call fiendish allies to it's AID T_T" was top notch.

[@HeyLizardLeigh]

I profoundly believe that Wisteria's aesthetic is the peak aesthetic. Also omg i LOVE this SCHOOL and i want her to DO WELL IN IT!!

[@GraphicAnomaly]

I've always had a side quest ready for my adventures. A clearing in the woods (or what ever the current terrain is). And in the exact middle are 4 faerie Dragons playing about a stump or rock. They play 3 kid games with the adventures and if the players are successful with the games, they are rewarded a single magic accessory for their time. The faerie Dragons don't play fair and may use their breath weapon to gain an unfair advantage. They don't mind if the players start to cheat as well, it only adds a challenge of wits to the game. If called out for cheating, they only respond with, "It's not cheating if you're caught! It's how the game is played" Being of chaotic in nature, i find this little side quest something fun for the players to do if things start to get too dark or things drag on for to long :) Throw it in your campaign and have some fun!!

[@jordanw2741]

As an adventurer, I would die for Wisteria. Really like this adventure. You did an excellent job on pacing this adventure. Would 100% insert this at my table. Keep them coming!

[@suntiger745]

I mean, depending on how the final encounter goes, you may. :P

[@DannyboyO1]

I quite like the "as-is" magic item reward. That seems delightfully hilarious. Could be a good option if you have a shield strapped to your arm and aren't needing your hands for spellcasting.

[@GinnyDi]

YEAH, I feel good about this item because it's not USELESS, it's just... it'll require a little thinking to use it well, you know? I think that's fun!!

[@ArthurRex131]

I would upscale it so that rather than just the hand, the entire arm goes numb, but I'm an asshole.

[@adambescos7387]

I could see either myself or one of my players trying to use it as a trap against a villain of the week. Giving him this ring in an attempt to "court his favour" knowing full well they'll backstab them first chance.

[@MacMitt10s]

If you have an Armorer, you could totally have a pseudo Iron Man "snap" scene :)

[@Pariah502]

I have a fighter with the Titan Wrestler feat (PF2e), I can see her using the ring DURING a grapple to shock them both =D

[@davidwatches]

This series is AMAZING. Wisteria looks like a fun character to roleplay, and I personally love including skill challenges as an in-depth encounter choice. (Combat shouldn't be the only type of encounter with so many player options.) I hope you're able to continue this series well into the future. Time to go back and watch your other character videos to consider who might be in your next "Steal This Side Quest."

[@Zev0]

I hope the cell guard gets one, I really enjoyed her

[@LittleAshfairy]

Me, halfway through the video, quickly rushing to my d&d group chat: "No one can watch the new Ginny Di video, I need to steal that sidequest immediately!"

[@sammysgoldenhour]

“I hope you’re enjoying this series!” YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES- *cough* I mean… I am certainly enjoying it.

[@stefansneden1957]

Even if you don't run this exact quest it is still a treasure trove of ideas. From monsters to rewards to buildings...just so much useful stuff

[@moonshadow9969]

I have always liked your videos. However, now with these "Steal This Side Quest" episodes, your channel became one of my top favourite D&D KZbin channels. Great work, keep creating such an amazing content. Thank you!

[@westaylor1489]

I absolutely love that you have breaks for all of WIsteria's scenes. If I indeed steal this sidequest, I would just play the video bits of her, with your permission of course.

[@quinnlee-newbury9003]

Loved this! Definitely gonna save this for my magic school campaign I'm gonna run after Strixhaven comes out. Perfect "help a fellow student" side quest. Thanks Ginny!

[@MikeSpuches]

This is a much more digestible way to learn a module than staring a PDF. You really make it all come to life. Love this series.

[@EarnestEgregore]

Yea, honestly the character scenes are such high production value that it’d be kind of cool if she somehow created a module playlist with multiple npc scenes you could view at the table for whoever wanted to play them as is, without tweaking them to fit some other world building element. All that to say… I agree with you… These are wonderful and unlike a lot of other videos I’ve watched by similar content creators.

[@PolesitterPictures]

All right, I'm stealing this and adding a little sapphic romance (Wisteria's dating the librarian, an Evelyn Carnahan from The Mummy look/bealike with the same low DEX score - and, if the party fails to keep the secret from her, she'll help). I love this!

[@foradain5211]

Rachel Weisz ^_^ I still need to see her as Hypatia in "Agora" (also a Librarian!)

[@PolesitterPictures]

@@foradain5211 Saw that, too, and she was FABULOUS in that, just a much more reserved fabulousness.

[@Stargaizer99]

In one of my games (that I haven't been able to play for a while) my wife and I play an old married couple who have raised an indeterminant number of children and as empty-nesters decided to take up adventuring. Aside from all the spells we have (she's a bard & I'm a sorcerer) having a parenting bent (locate object = "Mom, where's my..." & firbolt = "Dad always does the grilling"), they always argue about which kid became what and went where ("Oh yes, June became a wizard too, do you know her?" "No, don't you remember? June became the barbarian, Alex was the wizard!"). So I look at these side quests as these two leading the group around to visit all their kids and they just happen to stumble into adventures along the way!

[@CharlieHiggins420]

A DM I know stole this side quest for our game. When we found out about the side effect Wisteria didn't tell us about, we went back to the academy and told the headmistress about the barbed devil. Wisteria was promptly expelled.

[@fenfaerie]

As someone who sometimes struggles with side quests, this series is amazing! I've loved all your OCs and Wisteria is no exception. She's adorable.

[@fromthegraysea]

Wisteria is so great, if and when my party is ready for this side quest, I will totally be using the snippets from this video at the table for the interactions with her.

[@ThrabenValiant]

Right?! The bookmarking is so awesome!

[@andrewweir4445]

This is great! My homebrew campaign has a fancy magic school that I've been looking for a good reason to have my players explore more (a bit selfish, but I put a lot of work into fleshing it out...) Maybe instead of tracking it directly I could give them a map with a bunch of labeled rooms 🤔

[@GinnyDi]

Yes!! I gave the barest skeleton of a "map" just so the story existed somewhere, but this could so easily be dropped into basically any institution. I love the idea of incorporating it into an existing school in your world!!

[@jamialexandra3743]

Wisteria is too cute!! This side quest sounds like a lot of fun :)

[@o0Siomha0o]

As a newb GM (only have done 2 sessions so far) I love this series! Definitely going to be using these ideas in future sessions! Thank you so much!

[@profsusansatsumas]

This is GOLD. I really love the added complication of secrecy, looks like a fun and interesting session!

[@HSHAZAM]

My dm used this few months ago. He made Wisteria belongs to a local noble family and we successfully built relationships with them by completing this quest. Very interesting plot. Appreciated!

[@faemerothgoblinbane]

I'd love to see some kind of side quest where a party needs to help Na'Krasha out somehow: either stopping a crime or making one.

[@Tezemya]

I've just started following your channel and already love it. I've been playing ttrpgs for a long time but never mastered a game because I always start worldbuilding this giant kingdoms with centuries of history and long plot lines but can never condense anything that could be a session, stress and give up. This series is perfect for angsty wanna be gms that seem to never be able to find the "perfect" one shot/adventure

[@ChaosWolf1982]

I love this quest and this character! And as my own magical shortstack, the halfling sorceress Kerry Greywool would proudly say, one can never go wrong with an oversized hat as a fashionable accessory.

[@bjrnegillarsen1380]

That side quest could be a nice tool to get the party back on track when they inevetably go totally off the rails somewhere down the wrong track, something my party is notorious for...

[@KittyKatttx3333]

I "stole this side quest" and ran it as a one-shot for a bunch of first time level 3 players and we all had such a blast! It was my first time DM-ing too. I am so excited to see more from this series! :)

[@winterrye3022]

Love this! After years of denial, my players have accidentally discovered they love the "Academia Aesthetic" settings, I've been scrambling to find more adventures like this. Will probably change the setup of the Uni a bit because watching a fiend tear through an obvious fantasy stand-in for Carnegie Mellon will be very carthartic for my players.

[@kylebaryonyx9478]

Love this one, super thematic! For a future one, I'd love to see a gruff, proud hunter that needs help, but it's clearly annoyed about asking until the party meets their equally stern spouse who is insisting that the hunter get help with the monster they're tracking

[@shadowofsteel]

This Quest is Adorable. I'm looking forward to unleashing something like this on my players.

[@heathersharo5294]

I love the side quest videos! I’ll be adding this one to my next session. My party is already heading to a magic school, so the timing is perfect.

[@DerJagerlord]

In which Ginny gives us an intro quest for a Strixhaven campaign. I've definitely stolen this and did not realize just how much balancing their school sport with demons running amok is to run xD

[@mckayleepugmire9947]

Maybe Wisteria should go into evocation if that makes her happier, even with the numbing effect (hopefully temporary) that ring is pretty advanced. Also beta testing prototype magic items like that ring could be an interesting side gig for players.

[@Chelsey.A.L]

This quest seems like a lot of fun! Also I'm so happy to officially meet Wisteria, she's adorable 😊

[@heatherclark2701]

I don't even play DND, I just like the stories you create :)

[@TheAakron]

This is amazing! As a "Spiel-Meister" (German vor DM) i can adapt your content even for DSA (a German PnP). It helps me a lot to make the experience more unique than the other adventures!

[@ChadUrsoMcDaniel]

I love the sense of place you created with this and how it leaves much for the DM to adapt.

[@DoofusDomainCleric]

This has been a great motivation for my upcoming Kids on Brooms campaign and I love the light heartedness of it. Thank you!

[@N7P2R2]

I absolutely adore this series, and your work in general. Coming up with adventure is one thing but your NPCs are so very compelling! They’re whimsical while still feeling grounded in realism. AND you take time to give insight on how to scale the adventure AND you wrote up a google doc? Your hard work and care does not go unnoticed :)

[@beckybarton3427]

The amount of detail in these side-quests is amazing! I’m not a DM but would totally get a group together to make this a one-shot! Thank you for creating this series Ginny!

[@keithlewis9621]

Love this! Wisteria is probably my favorite NPC you have made and easily my favorite calendar shoot page! Awesome content, love this series, thanks for the effort you put into this!

[@maritntaylor2442]

These videos are incredibly helpful! I'm always so excited when you have a new roleplaying / tips / things to steal video. Thank you!

[@me82sjm]

This is one of my favourite side quest videos, I adapted it into a 6 hour one shot that I dmd for 12 friends on my 21st birthday, for several of my friends it was their first time in dnd and they've been into it since so thank you ginny for this brilliant inspiration

[@GinnyDi]

Ahhhh, that makes me so happy!!

[@shawngilliland243]

Your Steal This Side Quests are magnificent! I hope that you will continue to dazzle us with your adventure creating abilities. Bravo!

[@jefftaylor3090]

I love this series. I think it's fantastic, fun, and brilliant. Your characters always have such great personality, and you weave a short story that includes little things for the players to notice/discover, encounters that allow for player creativity and roleplay to solve, and unique and fun treasure, along with tips for how to scale it and suggestions on potential leads. I look forward to more.

[@dontorres8037]

Perfect timing Ginny. I was looking to make a last minute side quest adventure for this weekend. Always a lot of fun to watch your videos.

[@lizardjr.7826]

I appreciate these videos showing quest construction. Most D&D channels are player focused.

[@goingpostale]

Wisteria is so fun and delightful!! And I love the cuts between you setting the scene and acting as Wisteria 💗

[@papatraildoc]

What a wonderful NPC! I'm really liking Wisteria. Good job, Ginny... and thanks as always.

[@moosefishman180]

These are amazing, definitely subscribing to see more of these, thank you for giving your talents to the roleplay community, you clearly work hard at it and we appreciate it. Looking forward to the next one!

[@ThymeKeeper]

I love how enthusiastic you always are :).

[@Chigen_Atomic]

Wisteria's name is so adorable. I'm loving the series so far. This could also work really well for the intro to a magic school campaign. Have one of the teacher's catch the party afterwards, or maybe approach them as they leave the schoolgrounds. Or they're none the wiser but unintentionally guilt trip them by mentioning something destroyed by the devil. Though I'm also imagining this as a hub, where the player's return to for quests and supplies, hearing about everything going on in the school, including one of Wisteria's new mishaps.

[@lschantz64]

This is really cool, you would run a pretty good table Ginny. This would be a lot of fun.

[@bennettcard571]

This is perfect!!! My campaign focuses on the borders between the Material Plane and the Lower planes weakening, this will fit right in!

[@zackdawson669]

Hi Ginny! This side quest actually fits so well into my current campaign that it’s uncanny. I have no choice but to “steal” this quest. Thanks for posting this, genuinely love all your videos, it’s helped me be a better D&Der in general. Oh, and as I’ve seen many people point out, Wisteria’s name is S-tier. Absolute delight.

[@drewcourtney376]

At first I was thinking I could use this, it's awesome. Then your cosplay and acting made me want to not only use the premise, but also clips of your video..... Thank you for adding timestamps, that will make it much easier!! (And I just happen to be running my group through a magic college in a couple of months, so that's even better!!)

[@EspressoMoon]

I love love love this one! Great content and please continue this series! I haven't played any of them, but love to include them in the future. At this point I just genuinely enjoy the videos and ideas!

[@pugsyconglomerate]

Absolutely loving the "Steal this Side Quest" vids

[@johannfunn6962]

God the underlying nervousness and desperation throughout Wisteria’s dialogue is amazing 🤣

[@seanpchristy]

This is an awesome idea pairing video guides with a homebrew adventure, well done! a lot more useful for DMs as opposed to just the POV roleplay which is better for players.

[@ERJones-fd6oh]

I'm definitely stealing this plot whole cloth for my campaign ,thank so much for sharing this delightful character and clever plot. as it turns out the party is nearby a magic school in which a member has enrolled , a classmate's accident is a perfect twist to spice things up before they head out on their next adventure

[@visitormidir7048]

just ran this quest in my campaign last night. It was rather interesting, especially the end.. one of my characters is a hombrewed Yugi Moto character, he is a desert hilldwarf who is on a quest to collect fragments of his family's heirloom, the puzzled pendant of kings (usable through DnD Beyond/wizards of the coast). I gave her 1 peice of the puzzle, which is where she discovered that, even though it is only a fragment of the puzzle, it still contained summoning powers, and although those powers were weak in this fragmented state, she found a way to still access the little bit she had which, added with her own power, she was able to summon the creature. After defeating the beast, they told the head currators the truth about what has been going on. She was then arrested... Upon being aloud to look at her studies to help the hearing, they found that she was using one of the missing fragments, and they originally planned to break her out of her cell in hopes of being rewarded the fragment. but they were caught, and instead managed to lie their way into making the gaurd believe that they were supposed to question the prisoner. They filled her in on why they were there, assuring her that they had not turned in any of the information they had uncovered when investigating her studies. she then revealed to them that it wasn't the only creature running loose in the library... or anywhere in the city really... So they made a deal, they get her out through the proper channels and she will give them the fragment and help hunt down each of the creatures that she had summoned using it. The party accepted and then made their way to the warden of the prison she was held in, and convinced him to get the charges dropped under the promise that the creatures were stopped before anything serious happens. They hunted each of the creatures down, one of which was called Dargon (also in DnD Beyond/wizards of the coast) Who was originally tied to a mortal in the world, but had been set free and is now cuasing nightmares to haunt the people of the city. He was the last one they hunted, and to make up for the trouble she caused the town, she valiantly gave up her own life to save teh party and the city. The party commitioned a statue to be built of her, to remind the town, that it might be useful to summon creatures for fun or to help around the house, sometimes it can get out of hand, and when it does, there will be a price to pay for it. ultimately they got their fragment from her before she passed, and discovered that she was not the only one using these ancient magics from the 7 items of the king to either make their life easier or to cause trouble.

[@megansauerwein3629]

I love these. As a DM that had my confidence shaken the first time I tried these are really helpful to give me ideas on what story I want to tell.

[@ArthurRex131]

Of all of Ginni's great content, I think this might be my favorite.

[@richardgilson4704]

This is becoming my favorite series. Keep up the great work. Have a great day!

[@lilyonarock]

I just ran this, it went really well!

[@AmpleGames]

This is absolutely excellent and I really hope you do more of these! :D

[@Tankmen100]

well i'm following your channel for quite a while now, but why did i find out so late about this awesome "Steal this Side Quest" Series. Absolutely love these ideas

[@jonathanlindsay5600]

Oh my goodness! Your whole hand goes numb!! 🤣 I love it!! So creative

[@AllAboutNightcore]

Planning a last minute oneshot because our DM canceled last minute, since she couldn't prep. First time dmíng.. this is a massive help, thank you so much!

[@joalyng]

Love these videos so far!! They are fantastic and so well thought out! Thanks Ginny!

[@jonathankessler9853]

I’m gonna be running Strixhaven soon so I’m 100% stealing this, this is fantastic. Thanks Ginny!

[@levimissentzis7614]

Please keep doing these it’s improving my dming so much

[@Foxcub1289]

Hey Ginny, I just wanted to say that I just ran this side quest for my party. (Only three of eleven people could make it.(Yes, I am sane with that many players.😂)) It was quite fun, they succeeded and hopefully for them, this won’t be the last time they meet Wisteria. (Although they (the rogue who has the ring) have no idea about the item’s inherent flaw yet.) I wanted to thank you so much for this fun side quest, everyone really enjoyed it!😊

[@AD_Gray]

What a fantastic series! I love these and I hope they keep coming :) Wisteria, the academy and the quest are all brilliant too (I love Skill Challenges)

[@jonasholzer4422]

Thank you so much, this is a perfect way to rope my players into the magical academy that has important characters for the future. They already kmow a former student (they really liked) who could ask them to discretely deal with a friends summoning failure

[@LezCharming]

Your best video yet,and that's really saying something!

[@noirmeitte]

Gosh i love these Steal the Side Quest Videos. I love just following your story and i'm excited to use them and home my player will be as excited as i am.

[@jetshroom]

I have a couple of side quests I like to run if I'm short on prep time for a session. My favourite is "The Shakedown" wherein the party are tasked with recovering a tantalizingly large sum of money that is owed to their benefactor, Frankie. Frankie gives them the name of the target, Randy, and the name of the club he's often seen at. If possible, avoiding a description of Randy is helpful. At the club, it turns out that Randy isn't there, he hasn't been seen in about 2 weeks. Coincidentally, roughly the same amount of time since Frankie loaned him the money. Fortunately, though the Bartender and Bouncer don't know Randy well, he's a regular of Roxxy, the Minotaur exotic dancer who works the stage at the club. Roxxy will happily talk about Randy and what a great guy he is, but will not admit to knowing his address. If pressed however, she will provide an address. The address turns out to be fake, and upon returning to the bar, Roxxy has fled, leaving only a message, written in lipstick on the mirror for the barman. The barman can provide Roxxy's address, which reveals a number of clues. Brochures for an exotic cruise leaving from the local port. A letter from Randy to Roxxy, begging her to call on him at his house, and what appears to be clothes strewn about the room in a hasty attempt at packing. Visiting Randy's house, the party find a dead Randy on his bed. The house ransacked and no money. Leaving the party with only one clue, Roxxy at the docks. Arriving at the docks the party see Roxxy's cruise liner pulling out into the harbour, moments too late. (Unless the party are creative) I like this one because it takes on the feel of a noir detective mystery, and it's completely tailorable to party level. I had a Cambion Bouncer and a Fallen Aasimar barman and called it the Why Fly club. It was in a technomagic scifi game so the cruise was an intraplanar cruise. The party can complete it with or without violence, and if you make Roxxy a lovable character, they won't mind so much when she gets away with Frankie's money.

[@meganressler4316]

This is such an interesting quest. I hope my dm uses this because I have a character that loves libraries and my character would just want to explore the school’s library.

[@oOPPHOo]

This one is perfect for my starter location! Thank you! A useful potential ally for the party is the local bard college (an all purpose magic school, really, but with a focus on the bardic arts). I've been looking for quests related to it, but I've been too lazy to design my encounter based on a mutated ooze unleashed in the alchemy lab that triggers alchemical substanses as a lair action. I even have a tie in to potential antagonistic factions that might want a devil mishap at the college and for poor Wisteria to get expelled.

[@JudithOpdebeeck]

for the record: im loving these!

[@euansmith3699]

This was great; as every, the costume and acting is top-notch. One small point that occurred to me, is that the Wisteria sections could have been filmed from a higher angle, to reinforce the idea that the wizard is small. The magic item side effect really made me chuckle. This is a great idea for a series; very well executed.

[@AtheistPirate]

Follow-up idea: Word of the barbed devil incident gets out when snot-nosed upstart (and destiny's plaything) Larry Clotter takes credit for dispatching it.

[@Dissorganized_Craft]

I am currently stealing this!! It's been modified to my campaign bit but thank you! This is so valuable for me as a new DM

[@MaerynAltheaTover]

This Series is amazing! Thanks for creating amazing things!

[@Zai-kyu]

I love this new series of videos! Keep it up! Awesome stuff!

[@nightfall89z62]

Great job ginny. Love your content as usual. Keep it up!

[@Reoh0z]

I really love skill challenges, more DM's should use them.

[@mattalford3862]

This was a lot of fun. Please keep it up!

[@yuna_bean]

thank you for being a positive force and influence to the D&D community :)

[@rapusukarion2043]

Someone probably suggested this, but doing a side quest within each one of the guilds would be nice. Like this one was related to the mage college, but one for a thrives, fighter or heroes guild would be interesting. I'm putting this quest into the campaign I'm writing now, this was great!

[@nealpeterson9714]

These are fantastic, I might not be able to plug this in a game anytime soon, but these are very entertaining and a great thing to have in store.

[@PackRatGirl]

I adore these and can't wait for more, I plan to use them all for my games!

[@melissaplante8450]

I loved the first one with the healer but this one is even better! I really like the ambiance of it! One of my player is a "summoner" so theres a way to make things extra interresting! Cant wait for the next one! Love your work Ginny! =)

[@probablylasly7278]

What an incredibly charming idea that's clearly communicated, thanks!