#adventure ideas

[bab-boojlood]

The Superior Yet Commonplace, Run-of-the-Mill, Ordinary, Predictable, Quotidian Carnival and Sideshow (Perfectly Mundane and Not Peculiar)

There is a carnival that's alive, and it's wandering around the woods at the edges of Green Sea.

The Quotidian Carnival travels from place to place, enticing townsfolk of nearby settlements and passersby to attend its performances, no two ever the same. Its workers put flyers around various places to attract as many guests as possible. For the workers, more guests mean more money, and the possibility of eating that week. Strangely, there are few to no hands that help to set up or pack down the Carnival, and no cut of the money for the performers, meaning not only is the Carnival cheap, it brings a decent living for the obligatory but small security team on hand, and their ringleader.

Of the many figures who live and work alongside the Carnival, none are more unusual than Alexander Trelawny, a rundown old bum and alcoholic who acts as the would-be ringleader of the show—and quite an act it is indeed, as Trelawny capers with all the enthusiasm and eccentricity customary of his office. Trelawny is relied upon by the Carnival to not only introduce the show and its acts to the audience but mediate the inevitable disputes that occur with the locals wherever the Carnival goes. Invariably, townsfolk would complain: sometimes of stolen goods, other times of fights with out-of-towners, and more rarely, of missing people. Invariably, Trelawny is sent to town to negotiate, to placate, or to plead, while the Carnival made its getaway. Every time, Trelawny would slip away and meet up with the Carnival shortly after.

Despite these frequent partings, Trelawny is incapable of leaving the show out of a misplaced sense of guilt and insecurity, that he would not be able to survive on his own without the proceeds from the Carnival, while at the same time resenting it for reducing him to a shell of a person, and for the fact that his own keepsake, a PLOT RELEVANT THING, is still somewhere inside that tent. His only joy is when he forgets himself during a show, or when he manages to entice a fine bottle into his wagon. What Trelawny does not know is that he is only the most recent ringleader in a long line of them, plucked from the roadside or the enraptured audience mid-performance. As it happens, the Carnival is in the market for new representation.

It isn't just Trelawny who has been stolen from, either. The Carnival has a penchant for nicking sentimental things. The latent magic invested in something so suffused with emotional significance is a delectable meal to many magical beings, and this Carnival is one such creature. Once a kind of Quori, the Carnival has over centuries remained in the form of an enormous purple tent. Within its body, it can project images, sounds, smells, and sensations to anyone inside, and after so long doing so, it's become quite good at it. It subsists upon nostalgia, memory, and yearning, and when it encounters an object imbued with enough of it, the Carnival keeps it, consuming the sentiment within and sustaining itself. If it encounters a person sufficiently lost in the future or the past, it might collect them too, making them a part of their audience until those strong feelings are reduced to spindrift, ejecting them out at a later date, potentially decades later.

Notable Points:

The Quotidian Carnival has built its essence around a seed, the original object the Quori managed to take, and if this object is discovered, the Quori will turn inside out and back again before disappearing to the Astral Plane, leaving everything its accumulated behind. This seed can be anything you like, but it's the only thing that can't be removed, and therefore must be cloaked, hidden, duplicated, or protected.

Trelawny is an unreliable figure who may try to help the party if he really believes they can undo this mess, though he doubts it. He doesn't have much to gain by turning them in, but he is careless, drunk, loud, and absolutely an exhibitionist.

The earlier the partier visits the Carnival, the less likely it would be that they would have keepsakes or sentimental valuables. These are definitely the best hooks available to rope them into things.

The interior of the Quotidian Carnival can easily become something between a dungeon and a nightmare, depending on how concerned it is about the figures within. It can't define intent, and its attention is stretched keeping up appearances, particularly during shows. If it senses the party somewhere theyt shouldn't be, or messing with things they shouldn't touch, it is capable of manifesting very real threats to deal with them, as well as changing the internal environment of the area.

Hooks:

The party encounter a confused middle-aged man in a small town who seems to be very distressed about the year. He seems uncertain whether he fell asleep for 40 years, or whether he is just dead. He says he woke up near town, but that the last thing he remembers is seeing a show at the Carnival

A scuffle takes place in a tavern (perhaps with the edgy toughs from the show's security) or someone else, and the people in the bar reveal their resentment for the visitors, saying things have been stolen. One person in particular, a local magistrate, is offering a reward for the return of his item.

The party discovers a flier for The Superior Yet Commonplace, Run-of-the-Mill, Ordinary, Predictable, Quotidian Carnival and Sideshow (Perfectly Mundane and Not Peculiar) on a tree, saying that it only costs 2 copper pieces to see a show that will at the very least pass the time.

Loots:

The Quotidian Carnival is filled with a lot of things, shunted into a pocket to the Astral Plane inside the Quori's "body," and not all of these items are mundane keepsakes. Among the lost items can be any number of useful plot items, relics, or magical items that were meaningful to their long-gone bearers.

Additionally, any lost or missing people that might be needed for information could be deposited like a Gogurt wrapper nearby, in some kind of exchange with the Quori (good luck with that), or by killing it.

[darklordazalin]

How have you used Azalin in your campaigns?

I'm currently planning a Ravenloft game and would love to use him as the main villain for it.

So, it depends on the campaign. I often use him as the main villain for campaigns that span across multiple Domains as his scheming often impacts the entire Core.

For example, I am currently running a game in which the characters are searching for the five fragments of Ezra’s shattered shield. Each piece of the shield has its own power associated with a Cleric Domain of Ezra’s and many of the faithful of Ezra believe if her shield is reforged it would not only have the power to protect one against the Legions of the Night (Ezra’s fancy term for the many evil creatures found in the Ravenloft setting), but control the Mists themselves. Azalin, naturally, is very interested in such an item. To control the Mists may allow him to escape, but he also wishes to use the Shield to destroy the Shroud around Necropolis and deal with ‘Death’ once and for all.

In this campaign, Azalin is mostly manipulating things in the background to ensure the characters are able to locate the various pieces of the shield. I plan to have him eventually reveal himself through Kargat agents that may or may not beat the characters to one or more of the shield fragments. He plans to acquire at least one for himself and offer to assist the characters in reforging it – he does have the means, after all and is one, if not the only person with said means.

=========================

I’m actually working on a campaign set entirely in Darkon at the moment, but I won’t get into how I’m using him for that one as a couple of the players for it follow me here. However, here are some ideas on how you can use Azalin in a mostly or solely Darkon campaign:

1.  Azalin isn’t really the type to deal with adventurers head on unless he has to, but he certainly is the type to manipulate them or even hire them into working towards his own goals. He easily can offer many things to a new group of adventurers in exchange for service. There’s the obvious gold, but he can also supply magical items, arcane tutelage, and a vast array of knowledge. Essentially, it would be a simple matter for him to determine what each character desires and offer it as payment. In doing so, the characters are indebted to him and perhaps some become loyal.

2.  Since Azalin’s curse is to not be able to learn new spells,  another way you can use him is to have him test potential Apprentices. He can set up tests of scholarly studies, complex puzzles, and deadly magical experiments and ensure they cross path with these potentials. Though, this obviously requires some sort of arcane caster in your group.

3.  If you want a more hands-on Azalin, I recommend taking advantage of his ability to use his almost impenetrable illusions to appear as anyone. It is true that he typically only does so to appear as he did in life, but that does not mean he is limited to doing so. Whatever illusionary form he takes on, he could use to work directly or indirectly with the party.

4.  You can assume that if a group gains Azalin’s attention, he knows their every move and is always one or more steps ahead of them. He can scry without being detected thanks to his special scrying orb that was made by the Three Hags of Tepest using a spell of Azalin’s own design and a shard of crystal taken from Bluetspur. He can see through the eyes of any of the undead in his Domain and there are a LOT of undead in Darkon. He also has Kargat spies everywhere – the Kargat are mostly made up of lycanthropes and vampires. And then there’s also the fact that he can freely delve into the minds of anyone in his Domain.

5.  If you wish to lean into Azalin’s motivations, his main one is to bring his son (Irik Zal’honan) back to life so he can have a second chance to raise him into the perfect heir. Read “perfect heir” as the tyrant Azalin became over the years. It is because of Irik that Azalin works to escape Ravenloft. He believes if he is able to break free of his prison, then his curse will be removed as well and he will finally be able to learn the spell to bring Irik back.

6. His second lesser motivation is his hatred of Strahd von Zarovich. He blames the vampire lord for causing the events that formed the prisons in the Mist and believes Strahd and Barovia are the linchpin that holds the Domains in place. If Strahd is somehow, permanently removed, Azalin theorizes that it may free them all.

7. Despite his curse, Azalin knows a ridiculous amount of magic and has become very creative with what he knows in order to work around the curse. The adventure “From the Shadows” has him collect adventurers’ heads, place them in magical jars, then send them back in time to collect a specific item for him from Strahd’s castle.  If they fail, he sends them back over and over until they succeed, which is also pretty hilarious. So, get as creative as you want. Azalin can set up a group to experience some rather wacky adventures.

I could go on, but I think I’ll leave it at this before I write an entire dissertation on how to use Azalin in your games :D

[redwizardofgay]

Given recent events, I find myself strangely inspired by the idea of a once powerful nation whose institutions have been seized by an undying vampire gerontocracy which feeds on the blood of younger generations.

The vampires were the last scions of the old order, whose greed and pride saw the fortunes of the empire crumble in time with their own failing health. Rather than meet the challenge they had made for themselves, or surrender the reigns of power to younger folk more able to do so, however, the elders performed a dark ritual to grant themselves eternal life. Now, they reign as the immortal sovereigns of a long-dead empire, sustaining themselves on the life-blood of their descendants who live lives of terror and poverty until some great band of heroes show and shake things up.

[mad-damia]

This is too good to let go.

I am obsessed with this idea

[gravitycoill]

lil comic i’ve had in my head for a bit

[wasyago]

Can you draw that snail? You know the one who got out of Grian's power and started to eat Gem's lighthouse?

little guy <3

alternatively: big guy.

[1-50thofabuck]

Now this is cool! I'd love to use this as a handout depicting a banner or mural the PCs find. This image alone could inspire an entire adventure! If anyone runs with that idea, let me know, I want to hear about it!

The Hunter's Funeral Procession

[hollow-head]

Responses to the most frequent comments on my Dungeon Meshi/TAZ crossover doodle

Laios and fair food

2. Taako cooking for real

3. Encounters with plants

(hello, in the manga, the pollen comes out the mouths)

bonus

[smokestarrules]

gotta say I am a huge sucker for how Adventure Time will sometimes just cut to Princess Bubblegum doing something extremely morally dubious like cutting off a tiny person’s limbs with scissors and then sticking those arms and legs onto another tiny person’s limb stumps but then she'll turn around and go like "Good morning, Finn! Are you ready for a sploinking day?" and whatever atrocities she had just been committing will Never be brought up again.

[probablybadrpgideas]

Creepy things that could be in the forest

HOLY SHIT! TREES!

The creepy fair-folk elves from medieval folklore...are on holiday at the moment, so you've got Santa's Christmas elves trying their best to sub in.

Abandoned cabin haunted by the ghost of another, more abandoned cabin.

Various adorable animals working together to use a shotgun.

Non-ancient cult to a non-ancient horror. They were founded last week and their primordial god is a month old. You're actually their first human sacrifice, please say if you have any constructive criticism :)

Talking crows who have been on some very dodgy message boards lately. They're not dangerous but they're very problematic.

Legolas but he's done snapped

Very generic slasher who's fully aware that this is one of his late-franchise box office bombs. He's still gonna come after you with a machete, contractual obligations, but his heart's clearly not in it anymore.

Allegorical representation of the horrors of late-stage capitalism and the urban wasteland who showed up to the wrong setpiece and is hoping no-one notices.

A bear. Oh, a bear's too generic and mundane is it? Not scary enough? How about I put you in a clearing with an angry bear and see how calm you are? Huh? Thought so. There's a fucking bear. Make me a sanity check, asshole.

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

happy pride month! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🌈 Marlinspike Pride 2024

[quirinah]

she dun on my geon till i meshi

[1-50thofabuck]

By request, notes and room descriptions from a past adventure: Mage Island

As the opening of the doc explains, [t]he following are notes and outlines for my personal use, running an adventure wherein PCs are exploring a small magical university on a similarly small island. The goal was to find information on the Rod of Many Parts, which I had introduced into a campaign taking place in an expanded Thunder Rift, which was placed in the mountains to the east of Darokin.

More details can be found within. Let me know if you use any of this in your own games, I want to hear about it!

[peculiardiction]

Canonically Tim isn’t addicted to coffee but this fucked up energy drink called “zesti” and I think it would taste disgusting, personally

Edit: OKAY! I now know it's not an energy drink!! I've obviously committed the biggest sin on the internet: not knowing a niche piece of information/lh

[time-woods]

you cant tell me he wasnt holding back any comments

[stilitrash]

The dynamic I never knew I wanted but definitely needed