Help spit balling for my Big Fat Greek Campaign

[Bakenal]

So I am a relatively new dm who has been running a campaign based in the ancient Greek world. I have put a lot of work into the world, it being an amalgam of real world history with Greek myth and magic. I am using regular 5e but everything has been skinned to be Greek, specifically the period right after the death of Alexander the great.

So far the campaign has gone extremely well. My party is seriously invested in their characters, with a spartan warrior (fighter), a perpetually drunk meanead of Dionysus (life cleric), a dragonborn sorcerer of Persian descent, a monk from the far East, and a wandering bard from the land of the Gauls.

So with the wealth of experience you guys seem to have, maybe you could help me come up with some neat ideas for magical items with a bit of Greek flair. Since I've been giving the group some items that are ok, but now that they have hit level 5 I need to give them some cooler stuff. Specifically because they are on their way to a temple to prove themselves before the gods, success means magic items.

The next bit i could use advice on is dungeon crawling. I'm perfectly able to come up with missions and love playing the social npc, but trying to keep an extended dungeon crawl interesting and making puzzles has been a struggle.

As stated I'm just spit balling and would like to hear any and all neat ideas you either have run or have wanted to run.

Thanks!

[Ninja_Prawn]

extended dungeon crawl

Labyrinth of Minos. And use a random map generator to change the layout every session. And when they finally get to the centre, the minotaur is already dead.

[mer.c]

There are some good sources of inspiration for magic items from Greek mythology, if you want to go that route. The skin of the Nimean Lion, for example, could make for a nice Leather Armor +2. Bottled water of the river Styx could be a Potion of Stoneskin (and appropriately difficult to find/retrieve for an item that potentially powerful).

Consider mundane but legendary arms and armor, too. The national epics and heroic myths were seen as a part of Greek identity/culture/history. Even if they weren't necessarily magical, items like the Spear of Achilles or Bow of Paris or Shield of Ajax would be strong contenders for magic item reskins. Or you could give them their own abilities, like 1/day True Strike as a bonus action on the Paris's bow. (He did snipe Achilles in the ankle from the walls of Troy, after all.)

For more mundane or Greek-themed effects, maybe start with the question "What was unique, interesting, inspiring, effective, or enblematic in classic Greek warfare?" Maybe an exceptional hoplite shield could give you magical 3/4 cover (as an action or once per long rest). Or a helm could boost leadership, giving a facsimile of the Inspiring Leader ability (or improving the ability). Or a sword could increase the power of mounted combatants, which would fit the post-Alexander era perfectly (he essentially codified heavy cavalry with his Companion Cacalry). Or a spear that gives a bonus to hit or defense when you're shoulder-to-shoulder with a companion. For non-fighter types it's harder to draw from historical combat of course, so you'd have to branch out and get creative.

For a more fantastic angle, Hephaestus was well-known for forging magical items for the Gods. Perhaps a reclusive sect devoted to him could be a source of rare straight-up +X items. Also featured in the myths are winged sandals of flight and a helm of invisibility to give you an idea of what kinds of things he created. Hell, even Zeus's lightning bolts were forged by Hephaestus!

[Bakenal]

I love the idea of the labyrinth and was considering that idea. Make the entire island of minos a crazy big maze. And those are great ideas! I particularly like the 3/4ths cover shield idea.

[Sigreid]

If it's Greek based, just remember that at least on God can be counted on to screw with the party for some unknown goal or offense.

[Ninja_Prawn]

If it's Greek based, just remember that at least on God can be counted on to screw with the party for some unknown goal or offense.

"There are only two things you need to know about the Gods: 1, they are mysterious and 2, they are annoying."

[JoeJ]

"There are only two things you need to know about the Gods: 1, they are mysterious and 2, they are annoying."

And never, under any circumstances whatsoever, should you agree to judge a contest between them.

[gullveig]

There is a great adventure for some other D&D-clone system that is said to be based on the actual palace of King Minos of Crete...

And it is free!

Adventure: http://mazesandminotaurs.free.fr/TOMB.html

Review: http://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=1239

[Theodoxus]

If it's Greek based, just remember that at least on God can be counted on to screw with the party for some unknown goal or offense.

In the case of Zeus, literally screw the female characters, especially any with a Cha of 16 or higher...

[Gtdead]

Gods are extremely active in greek mythology. Even when not directly, through oracles/disguises and such. They commonly do things that don't fall under their domain, spiteful/petty and pretty much every npc can be a god in disguise. Hell, even the pc can be a god in disguise.

Oracles, mysterious figures (mostly women) that help you find the monster's weakness and such should be very common and asking for an oracle's advice before embarking on a quest should be a given for your party. The advice should be cryptic. Like for example instead of saying that "you will need weapons with reach, and range", say that "you will need weapons made of wood". It's a common concept.

For dungeons crawls, consider a trip to the underworld. For puzzles you can use spirits that try to deceive the party while offering "help", objects that you need to offer in the underworld's altars, illusionary scenery (making your party think that they teleported out of the underworld, but they haven't and they need to identify and break the illusion). You should also add random dangers. Like killing a god's favorite animal, or eating a dangerous magic fruit.

For magic items, you can use metallic versions of animal parts. Golden skins/hides, silver hearts etc. Weapons of gods (Bow of Artemis, Sword of Ares, Shield of Athena, Trident of Poseidon, Hammer of Hephaestus), weapons/parts of magical sentient beings like bow of the centaur, horn of the satyr (dagger), tail of the satyr (whip). The gear of pretty much any hero (club of hercules, achilles armor, ajax spear, thesseus sword)

[ruy343]

If you're looking for adventure ideas, I would suggest getting out your old copy of Age of Mythology and playing the single player campaign. Although some of the levels are lackluster, you'll likely find that some of the levels can be easily converted to D&D-type missions (in fact, many would be BETTER that way). That said, here's my 10 minute brainstorm:

Ideas for Magic Items
Don't get caught in the trap of thinking that you need to give out a bunch of magical gear to your players - 5e works well with minimal magical items. That said:

A hinge from the gates of Troy: this item has 3 charges, and replenishes 1 every dawn. As an action, you may spend one charge to cast either the Knock or Arcane Lock spell on a door within 15 feet.
The shield of Ajax: This shield offers no defensive bonus, but grants expertise on Strength (Athletics) contests to shove a creature of your size or smaller. You may also attempt to shove creatures one size category larger than you. If a medium or smaller creature is shoved as a result of this action, you may push them 15 feet instead of 5.
The sandals of Hippolyta - These sandals increase your movement speed by 10, and give you the Charger feat (if you don't already have it)
The Head of the Gorgon - The severed head of Medusa, as removed by Jason, can be used once per day to cast the Flesh to Stone spell (DC12) on all targets within 30 foot cone that can see the face.
The Sword of Jason - This Sword grants no numerical bonus to attack rolls, but deals an additional 2d6 radiant damage to creatures with the creature type "abomination"

Ideas for adventures

A group of sirens has made a rocky island near a major city their home. The PCs are asked to guard a ship carrying strange magical beasts for a king (or noble)'s menagerie, and end up shipwrecked there. Now they must find a way off of the island (and a way to survive the other crazed sailors/monsters that washed up there too)
A mind flayer orchestrates a conflict between two city-states (Athens and Sparta?) and aims to have the Athenians vote for him to gain emergency powers. The players can join in on either side of the conflict, with the objective to kill/capture the enemy king.
A crazed, poetry-reciting cyclops (and his henchmen) are attempting to open one of the three doors to Erebos to release the titan Kronos from his eternal prison. The three doors are located in the underworld, which is dangerous to navigate (but perhaps the players end up trapped there after stopping the first door from opening).

[Shining Wrath]

Let's see:

Prophets and auguries and signs should be as common as farmers. All very mysterious and often sent precisely to mislead by a god who is trying to manipulate the party.

Every minor city and grand estate is ruled by a demi-god, for some number of repetitions of "demi". Every king or noble or bigwig is going to trace his ancestry back to some god, often not too many generations back.

The gods sometimes craft weapons and armor directly for a mortal. Usually, that mortal is a (demi)god. You have to kill the (demi)god to get the phat lewt, and that means that now you've got a +2 shield and a god who hates you.

Other magic items are made from the parts of magical beasts. Don't just give them magic stuff; do the Daggerfall crafting thing, make them find recipes for magical items and then they must go on quests and kill the magical beast. Who is, sometimes, the favorite of a god which means again you've got a Cloak of Elvenkind (refluffed) but some god hates you.

[Sigreid]

Let's see:

Prophets and auguries and signs should be as common as farmers. All very mysterious and often sent precisely to mislead by a god who is trying to manipulate the party.



Well, technically the fortunetellers in ancient Greece didn't see the future. Their gift was that when asked a question, they spoke the truth, whatever that was. Of course the absolute truth can be hard to understand, or easy to misinterpret depending on exactly what you asked.

[GanonBoar]

SO MUCH SOURCE MATERIAL. SO MUCH FUN.

A reenactment of the Trojan war could be interesting. Also, you could be one a mission for one of the gods (who are EXTREMELY annoying) or take a leaf out of Zeus' book and bang every woman you come across.

EDIT: And there are loads of magic items you could use! Maybe a bag of the four winds with charges that increase your speed travelling in a certain direction, or a Hades Invisi-helm, or all the other stuff.

[JackPhoenix]

Magic items? It's not that long there was a similar thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?474332-Greek-Inspired-Magic-Items

[MBControl]

Okay, right off the start, this is silly, but I like to add humor into my sessions now and then.

A Feta Golem. Wait . . . now hear me out. It would be similar to a rock golem, but as you beat it down, it crumbles into smaller weaker golems. Much like the Prometheans from the Age of Titans AoE.

They could harvest him for rations after too.

[Sigreid]

In the case of Zeus, literally screw the female characters, especially any with a Cha of 16 or higher...

In a particularly law centered world, a pretty fun campaign could be centered around trying to serve Zeus with a paternity suit. :smallwink:

[Bakenal]

You guys are absolutely amazing! Thank you for all the suggestions. I'm gonna roll almost all of it into the campaign I am running.

Frankly I started this campaign with the idea of the Greek world collapsing around the death of Alexander the great. It was mostly secular with a sweet Greek background and some meddling by God's. But after reading all this I feel that this course of action is not tapping into the sheer possibilities!

So I have adjusted my campaign to be more awesome. Turns out Alexander the great was trying to return the world to the age of heroes, being that he was the first demigod born in centuries. The group will basically be battling against the forces of the dragons, who were created by the titans, and who have been successfully removing magic and the gods influence from the world. Where in like 2000BC gods would literally engage in battle, sire demigods, and meddle in general. Now the year is 323BC and the gods can only really make there will known via those soothsayers and oracles. When the party releases the gods back into the world it's going to be an amazing return to the old world. Atlantis will rise from the sea. Storms will appear around Mt Olympus. Caves leading to the underworld will split open. And the gods will appear to the faithful.

I am so very excited.