slaykrai
2017-09-28, 03:00 AM
Hi all,
I'm running a more or less by the book (read: basic 5e rules) horror campaign. I know I've got different tastes between players (and myself), so I'm trying to mix it up.
Some setting notes:
Their 'home planet' is tidally locked: close enough to its sun that it doesn't rotate as it orbits, so the habitable parts of the planet are in a state of perpetual twilight. Much geopolitical strife results, as well as a pleasantly horror-appropriate perpetual twilight.
A few months ago (IRL) they got tricked into a portal to the Feywild by a vampire, which led them to their current iteration of 'horror in D&D.'
Right now, I'm running my characters through a Red and Pleasant Land (courtesy of Zak S, check it out and give him money, he deserves it), mashed up with Curse of Strahd. Hammer horror and nonsense abound. After a few sessions wandering around wonderland rooms populated by vampires, they've grown to properly hate going underground, thanks to RPL, and are very much ready to go back to the 'real world.' Having found actual, living humans, they're happy to run with the straightforward Dracula plotline, but they have to go back to the material plane at some point (though I think I can keep them occupied until ~10th level).
This leads me to my current conundrum.
Part of the fun of the Feywild is that we get to play with time- my idea is that I (hopefully secretly) rig the roll to launch them millennia into the future.
Well- it just so happens that there's been an article on a tidally locked planet far in the classic D&D setting's future- the "Sunset World" from Dragon 150 (thanks to (un)reason and his readthrough of Dragon Magazine)).
To summarize: a world that is tidally locked around an aging star is the native plane of Illithids, with an ecology that befits a tentacled, slimy, brain-eating species- and an opportunity to dive head-first into cosmic horror.
A few points- we can't get too far from two aspects of both classic d&d and my treatment of the feywild: we need points of light, and we need a certain level of humor (degree of gonzo is debatable).
The first is pretty easy- rather than gith being native to the astral plane, they're transplants and villages still live on the Sunset World. Alternately, I could have 'native' Illithids have a less immediately aggressive attitude toward my party- they (the party) could serve as valuable curiosities of a bygone era.
Two things I'd like to solve-Firstly- the need for friendly(ish) NPCs. In RPL/Ravenloft, the remaining humans are an oppressed minority, and having surviving pockets of Gith is very similar.
Furthermore, I'm running vampires as pretty laid back; they don't need to eat very often, so they treat the warm, mortal people like we would treat pigs- occasionally amusing and friendly, and nothing to be threatened by, but ultimately tasty.
Both of these seem too similar to my ideas for the Sunset World- Pockets of Gith being humans or the occasional mind flayer being friendly(ish) vampires. I don't want the setting to be 100% hostile, as they've got to sell their loot somewhere and will just murder everything in sight if they haven't got a few friends.
Secondly- I need brevity in a horror campaign. In theory, going from the 'slightly whimsical, definitely horrible' setting of RPL to straight up Lovecraft might work in some ways (out of the frying pan and into the fire), I think I need to provide periods of respite (with consequences, of course).
My first thought is that we're in a world filled with psionic beings- it makes sense they would have crazy visionary drugs. Perhaps some sort of incense that would effectively transport them into alternate realities, where the party's actions have tangible effects once they sober up- an escalation of the fortune-telling in Ravenloft.
This could allow for jumps to classic D&D planes, be they locations on the hells, elysium, etc- or even jumps to another system (Paranoia- I'm looking at you).
I'm sure some of you will have some creative ideas that I'd never come up with on my own, I'd love to hear them. Thanks in advance.
TL;DR: I'm looking for a way to avoid Gith=Humans and Mind Flayers=Vampires when jumping from gothic horror to lovecraftian horror.
I'm running a more or less by the book (read: basic 5e rules) horror campaign. I know I've got different tastes between players (and myself), so I'm trying to mix it up.
Some setting notes:
Their 'home planet' is tidally locked: close enough to its sun that it doesn't rotate as it orbits, so the habitable parts of the planet are in a state of perpetual twilight. Much geopolitical strife results, as well as a pleasantly horror-appropriate perpetual twilight.
A few months ago (IRL) they got tricked into a portal to the Feywild by a vampire, which led them to their current iteration of 'horror in D&D.'
Right now, I'm running my characters through a Red and Pleasant Land (courtesy of Zak S, check it out and give him money, he deserves it), mashed up with Curse of Strahd. Hammer horror and nonsense abound. After a few sessions wandering around wonderland rooms populated by vampires, they've grown to properly hate going underground, thanks to RPL, and are very much ready to go back to the 'real world.' Having found actual, living humans, they're happy to run with the straightforward Dracula plotline, but they have to go back to the material plane at some point (though I think I can keep them occupied until ~10th level).
This leads me to my current conundrum.
Part of the fun of the Feywild is that we get to play with time- my idea is that I (hopefully secretly) rig the roll to launch them millennia into the future.
Well- it just so happens that there's been an article on a tidally locked planet far in the classic D&D setting's future- the "Sunset World" from Dragon 150 (thanks to (un)reason and his readthrough of Dragon Magazine)).
To summarize: a world that is tidally locked around an aging star is the native plane of Illithids, with an ecology that befits a tentacled, slimy, brain-eating species- and an opportunity to dive head-first into cosmic horror.
A few points- we can't get too far from two aspects of both classic d&d and my treatment of the feywild: we need points of light, and we need a certain level of humor (degree of gonzo is debatable).
The first is pretty easy- rather than gith being native to the astral plane, they're transplants and villages still live on the Sunset World. Alternately, I could have 'native' Illithids have a less immediately aggressive attitude toward my party- they (the party) could serve as valuable curiosities of a bygone era.
Two things I'd like to solve-Firstly- the need for friendly(ish) NPCs. In RPL/Ravenloft, the remaining humans are an oppressed minority, and having surviving pockets of Gith is very similar.
Furthermore, I'm running vampires as pretty laid back; they don't need to eat very often, so they treat the warm, mortal people like we would treat pigs- occasionally amusing and friendly, and nothing to be threatened by, but ultimately tasty.
Both of these seem too similar to my ideas for the Sunset World- Pockets of Gith being humans or the occasional mind flayer being friendly(ish) vampires. I don't want the setting to be 100% hostile, as they've got to sell their loot somewhere and will just murder everything in sight if they haven't got a few friends.
Secondly- I need brevity in a horror campaign. In theory, going from the 'slightly whimsical, definitely horrible' setting of RPL to straight up Lovecraft might work in some ways (out of the frying pan and into the fire), I think I need to provide periods of respite (with consequences, of course).
My first thought is that we're in a world filled with psionic beings- it makes sense they would have crazy visionary drugs. Perhaps some sort of incense that would effectively transport them into alternate realities, where the party's actions have tangible effects once they sober up- an escalation of the fortune-telling in Ravenloft.
This could allow for jumps to classic D&D planes, be they locations on the hells, elysium, etc- or even jumps to another system (Paranoia- I'm looking at you).
I'm sure some of you will have some creative ideas that I'd never come up with on my own, I'd love to hear them. Thanks in advance.
TL;DR: I'm looking for a way to avoid Gith=Humans and Mind Flayers=Vampires when jumping from gothic horror to lovecraftian horror.