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View Full Version : [3.5/P] Beauty and the Beast module idea



Clepto
2011-02-17, 06:16 PM
So, I've been planning on running a short(ish) campaign in a few months when my regular group takes a break between two rather long CoC modules. I haven't DMed anything in quite some time, and I've got the itch, and decided to run Pathfinder, though I may scale back to 3.5 if necessary.

Last night, I read this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187613), and thought it was funny. All day today, I've been having visions of silverware attacking the party at a formal dinner, and started thinking about how to write an adventure that includes that. I thought about doing a haunted-house motif, cribbing a lot from Ravenloft. Then I wanted to add a Scooby Doo villain to the end. But I couldn't make it work in my head.

When I got home from work, I was putting my stuff down and saw the new copy of Beauty and the Beast that my fiance bought the other day, and the proverbial lightbulb came on.

I'm still running down the preliminaries in my head, but I wanted to throw this up here and get some feedback on the base idea. Once I have more put to keyboard, I'll start a real critique thread over in the homebrew section, but for now I just want opinions before I start.

Zonugal
2011-02-17, 08:44 PM
If you really wanted to bring a solid twist you could have the party teaming up with a Gaston-like character being told that he is leading the town militia to go rescue a lady from the clutches of a monster. That way you have the players initially fighting the animated objects but can be be faced with possibly turning on the humans once they learn they have talked into following the villain.

Saint GoH
2011-02-17, 09:43 PM
Hmm... I am on a fence. On the one hand I think Zonugal has a brilliant idea in that our Heroes are perhaps traveling through when a Gastonish type character runs up and asks them for help in recovering a beautiful maiden from a dark castle. Cue dramatic tones and plot twists as the party discovers the broad went there of her own accord and is in love with the not-so-evil-more-neutral-Beast. The Heroes turn their backs on the commonfolk and join the cause to defend love and all that what not.



Or you could be playing with my crew who would slaughter the beast before he has a chance to say anything :smallsigh:

Rainbow Servant
2011-02-18, 12:15 AM
Heh, I was just recently contemplating a castle that was a mix of the Beauty and the Beast castle, Castle Heterodyne, and a Dwarf Fortress.

For an added twist, have the Beauty be the big bad, ala Circe or something. As her current beast becomes old and/or uppity, she incites a local uprising and turns her "rescuer" into a replacement beast.

But yeah, I think it's a great idea. Animated suits of armour, cupboards, silverware, carpets and tapestries... combat should be fun.

Apophis775
2011-02-18, 12:44 AM
Try Animated Objects from page 13 of 3.5 MM

That would be my way to do it.

Clepto
2011-02-18, 01:00 AM
I'm not dead-set on telling the story exactly. I was originally thinking that the Beast would actually be evil rather than cursed/misunderstood, and have him be the BBEG.

Or, the house itself is the cursed part, and those of evil hearts become the Beast upon slaying the current one. Gaston kills the Beast and becomes the new one that the party has to fight.

I also really like the Circe idea. And the Castle Heterodyne. Hell, I might play up the steampunk angle and throw in some Iron Kingdoms tech for good measure. I can actually combine both, and have the castle be the true evil, corrupting those that reside for too long. After epic battle with Circe, they'll have to find some way of destroying the castle.

Ooh. Make it a symbiotic relationship. The Belle character was found by the previous Evil Witch, and tutored to become her replacement. The house has a corrupting influence over those who reside there, but the "master" of the house also keeps the corruption in check. If it goes too long without a master, the corruption begins to leak out into the surrounding area/forest/village/etc. The master of the house is not necessarily evil, despite the corruption, but occasionally commits evil acts both as a way of venting the power of the house, and as a way of keeping the locals away (those who get lost in that part of the forest never come back, etc.).

In this particular case, I would probably make the Beast a manifestation of the castle's will, like fighting the manifestation of an Elder Evil or somesuch. Without the Mistress to keep it in line, it goes crazy and the PCs have to kill it before they can destroy the house.

Maybe Gaston comes in during the battle with Circe and sees the PCs kill her. In his anger, the castle uses Gaston as an outlet, and possesses him with the Beast.


This definitely bears more thought, but I like where this is going. I'll probably start a formal Homebrew thread to start fleshing this out sometime this next week.