Piper
4th Level Troll
Posts: 377
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Post by Piper on Jun 14, 2021 23:20:49 GMT -5
I’m starting a campaign for new boots and I’m trying to dream up a novel idea for the game. Something cool. I’m looking for something beyond “your party is in a tavern on a dark and stormy night and in walks in …”
Any ideas you care to share?
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Post by Aramis of Erak on Jun 15, 2021 1:54:32 GMT -5
The world has shattered, into a variety of tumbling chunks ranging from 1 to 10 km... and the local wise man thinks there's a temple to the Earth Goddess that might be able to cure this... now, how the *bleep* do you find it?
(Assume a breathable air ring, and anything over 50 meters in all dimensions has full gravity)
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Piper
4th Level Troll
Posts: 377
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Post by Piper on Jun 15, 2021 7:56:52 GMT -5
Pretty cool idea, thank you!
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Post by zanshin on Jun 15, 2021 9:14:18 GMT -5
Here's some others Zombies - for some reason the dead will no longer stay dead (maybe because the dark lord has returned? who can say) Alien Invasion - spores drifting through space infect the living/vessels from another world bring aggressors Contact - a vessel lands bringing a messenger from elsewhere A crack in the earth - contact is made with a lost civilization, or their ruins after an earthquake opens a route down End of days - prophets and soothsayers can no longer divine a future past a certain date; what will happen then? How does society react when there is no future.
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cupboardgnome
4th Level Troll
I'm a long-time roleplayer, ever since the Red Box was published ⚔️🎲 I discovered T&T in 2020
Posts: 315
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Post by cupboardgnome on Jun 15, 2021 15:18:22 GMT -5
How about the old - you wake up and have no idea who you are, where you are, or what is going on. Players get given their characters whom they know nothing about so as to keep the mystery going.
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Post by d4caltrops on Jun 15, 2021 16:06:57 GMT -5
One of my favorite campaigns started with the inn catching on fire instead of someone walking in to hire them.
Or perhaps an A-Team-like scenario, where a case of framing or mistaken identity has gotten the party rounded up for a crime they did not commit. Now perhaps they're out to escape and clear their names, or hired by an entangled wealthy patron who wants help clearing his own name.
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Post by mahrundl on Jun 15, 2021 18:17:36 GMT -5
My party are not in the world of their birth (most of them, anyway), and spent their first night together initially in a cave and ultimately cowering behind an over-turned cart. It was a very loud night. They do have a regular inn now. It wasn't the one that they initially chose - that one got destroyed because they were staying there. They have probably had more encounters in their inn rooms at night than they have had during the day. The world doesn't stop just because they want to sleep... and being an extra-dimensional irritant, the world is acting somewhat like an oyster and trying to coat them with a protective layer.
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Post by ProfGremlin on Jun 15, 2021 18:29:33 GMT -5
Ok, this is me riffing off some great ideas here:
The Oracles of Tiro Kuona have long held they could not see past the Conjunction of the Moons in the thirteenth month of the 2197th cycle. This was two months ago. The cold winds have begun to lessen their bite as they stream off the Baridikuv'na peaks and flow over the queen's city of Usasaxsan. The people of the capitol city were, at first, little concerned with the Oracles legend. It seemed little more than flavor for a story told to children.
Over the weeks, however, it has become clear the queen relies upon the Oracle, more than most realized. While the queen, with input from her advisors, would come to a decision, she would look to the Oracles for the most auspicious moment to announce or place her plan into action. Lacking the Oracles clear guidance the queen has begun to dither and waver in the implementation of her plans. The mutterings of the court have begun to reach the ears of those in the streets and marketplaces.
To add to such worry, stories have begun to arrive as travelers can now make their way through the thawing passes of the Baridikuv'na range. Stories of a massive earthquake which left a smoking and steaming rent on the far side of the summit. Stories of those thought long buried who once again tread the land. Tales of mists which render a man senseless and stumbling. Accounts of large rocks floating across the rent through the mists, belying the mass the gods granted them. Rumors of - something - crawling from the rent only glimpsed in the twilight mists from the corner of the eye.
The marketplace is abuzz with such stories. The people have begun to worry whether the queen may take action. Her generals are said to be divided in their views. Do they still support the queen and her divine mandate? Do they seek to establish martial law in the face of a monarch suddenly unable to rule?
There, across the market's aisle from where you sit enjoying a hot mug of tushen, a figure in the livery of General Ara'tida posts a banner. Passers-by crowd close for a moment to see the newest announcement. Curiosity gets the better of you. You stand and approach, unavoidably jostling a couple of the crowd. It appears General Ara'tida is offering five-hundred gold for verifiable, first-hand accounts of the Baridikuv'na rent and it's surrounding countryside. You exchange a look with the figure to your side.
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Post by mgtremaine on Jun 19, 2021 7:44:38 GMT -5
Start them off the day after goblins, or whatever, invade and take over their town. It's destabilizing since there is no "safety" you get to add a bunch of crazy goblins rules and the population is basically an oppressed body. What will they do?
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Post by mahrundl on Jun 19, 2021 19:34:54 GMT -5
There are some terrific ideas here!
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order99
7th Level Troll
Coffee-fueled Carrion That Walks Like a Man
Posts: 1,039
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Post by order99 on Jun 20, 2021 10:39:54 GMT -5
They say that the Gods are dead. There will be no fishing from the pier today-there is a dry bed where the River once was, and dozens of villagers are out with baskets to gather the dead sea life before it spoils. The waters will probably come back tomorrow.A fortnight ago the river turned to blood under the moonlight-and back to water at dawn. Eight months ago it turned to beer for three hours. You have heard that the kingdom bordering yours boils in the blood of its own. If the Gods are dead then by what Divine Right do Kings rule? Your own Nation, mired in the bureaucracy of Merchant Guilds, Wizard's Guilds, Town Councils and Baronial Parliaments seems more stable-for now-and your Queen is popular with her people. But why should her son rule after her if the Gods are dead? What does the Bloodline matter? Will Guild and Council and Parliament vie to Elect a regent? Would that perhaps even be a good thing? Or would there be even more division and favoritism? Your sister has it worse than you-your Skills remain reliable even when the World seems to slip, but a Witch has issues these days. Some days the Magic flows freer than the normal wont, some days the flow is weak and she must strain for the simplest of Wreakings. All of the Wizards are having good and ill days now, and not always at the same time. Outside the Inn, two warring Apocalypse cults meet peacefully, grasping hands and taking turns burning Sacred Scrolls at the bonfire. One side knew that-what was her name again?-was going to flood the world. And Dread, um, Some-thing-or-other was going to rain down the Stars and turn it into burning rubble. It would seem that Sudden Endings are off the table for awhile. Slaves from Under the Hill have returned to a world they no longer recognized, telling all who will hear that the Silver Gates are gone, and the Kindly ones fled-or possibly dead, no one knows... One of the Fallen ones was at the Inn this morning, all lean arms and legs and horned crown-shyly offering rubies to the terrified minstrel for...lessons? Two Gibberlins have left the Deep Chasms and braved the dawn light, and are sitting peacefully in the Storyteller's Circle sharing a meat pastry. Without the constant din of Dark God's voices in their heads, some of the Anathema have decided to just...take another path. In truth, perhaps this world would be better off without the Gods-if not for the fact that the gears of the World were skipping and slipping now and again, a Cosmic Spring creaking just under your hearing... Your neighbors have been gossiping again-word has it that the Wizard's Guild is calling for an Inquisition, and are outfitting Agents of Inquiry. Scuttlebutt holds that they are mentioning you and your circle of friends by name. Well, maybe you will, maybe you will...it's not as if your own mind isn't itching for answers. What precisely were your Grandparents thinking, murdering the Gods like that? Rules- Tunnels & Trolls, your favorite Edition. House Rules from other Editions, showing up at random intervals at Reality hiccups or in certain locations. Lots of Random Tables-preferably from Other RPGs...a Random Encounter Chart from Star Frontiers on Tuesdays, one from a Ravenloft Realm on Wednesdays, one from the Al-Quadim hardcover on Fridays, one from Oriental Adventures on Saturdays. The PCs encounter unknown God Leavings, pull out the Gamma World Artifacts chart and have some fun...(this may require Polyhedral Dice for a change, heh). Will the PCs find a way to re-wind the World? Will it require a new Planetary Maintenance Guild? Can the Gods be revived, and should they? Perhaps the PCs need to become Gods in order to fix things-and can they? Can others become Gods-and will there be a War to decide who gets Ultimate Cosmic Responsibility? Only the GM knows...or maybe they will pull of some Random Charts, let out a mad cackle and let the Dice decide, Bwah hah hah...
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Post by mahrundl on Jun 20, 2021 19:07:45 GMT -5
Classic order99 weirdness!
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dungeondevil
3rd Level Troll
Give me grain and I'll give you guns!
Posts: 174
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Post by dungeondevil on Jun 29, 2021 21:48:14 GMT -5
An eclipse has permanently darkened the world. Rivers and streams flow backwards. Even waters flow uphill! When a fire burns it chills the air instead of offering heat; a pot of stew over a fire is frozen solid in minutes. The winter is a time of swelter, while midsummer is plagued by snowdrifts and bitter, howling winds. The tides act strangely and not according to their normal patterns. The sun rises in the West and sets in the East. The moon's procession of phases is all a-kilter: the full moon is but a hole in the firmament, while a new moon gleams brilliantly; last quarter is on the right, while the first quarter is on the left; waning precedes waxing. The known winds change directions or blow not at all. Animals who usually migrate become sedentary, and those which are sedentary migrate. Herbivores now crave fresh meat; carnivores desire the cud. The court jester usurps the throne; His Majesty now donning the fool's cap and motley vesture. Men bear offspring and women go off to war. Horses ride men, and the falcon puts the hood over his master's eyes.
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Post by Aramis of Erak on Jul 2, 2021 1:21:55 GMT -5
An eclipse has permanently darkened the world. Rivers and streams flow backwards. Even waters flow uphill! When a fire burns it chills the air instead of offering heat; a pot of stew over a fire is frozen solid in minutes. The winter is a time of swelter, while midsummer is plagued by snowdrifts and bitter, howling winds. The tides act strangely and not according to their normal patterns. The sun rises in the West and sets in the East. The moon's procession of phases is all a-kilter: the full moon is but a hole in the firmament, while a new moon gleams brilliantly; last quarter is on the right, while the first quarter is on the left; waning precedes waxing. The known winds change directions or blow not at all. Animals who usually migrate become sedentary, and those which are sedentary migrate. Herbivores now crave fresh meat; carnivores desire the cud. The court jester usurps the throne; His Majesty now donning the fool's cap and motley vesture. Men bear offspring and women go off to war. Horses ride men, and the falcon puts the hood over his master's eyes. I've seen that in at least one published setting... Don't remember the name, from some small press 3PP via RPGNow about 15 years ago.
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dungeondevil
3rd Level Troll
Give me grain and I'll give you guns!
Posts: 174
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Post by dungeondevil on Jul 2, 2021 23:18:41 GMT -5
Welp, looks like someone beat me to it! I'm sure that's pretty common in a small hobby community: lots of regurgitation, cryptomnesia and cross-pollinisation.
One way I've always used to get the creative juices flowing is to use rock and metal album covers as inspo. Roger Dean's YES album art is always a cool place to start.
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