Wait, What? - An exercise in DMing

[SleepIncarnate]

DMs are players too, and sometimes, we love to mess with the other players at our table. Sometimes it's because one of our players forced us to attack them with a gazebo (https://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/Jul/gazebo.html), other times it's just the humor value of revealing that the BBEG was based on the villain of a fruit pie advertisement (https://www.somethingpositive.net/sp06052003.shtml). Whatever the reason, sometimes, the greatest joy a DM can have is not in killing the party, but in making the players themselves stop and go "wait, what? Did you seriously just do that?"

As such, I'd like to propose a little game for us to try here. A way for us to flex our DM muscles. As I've mentioned in other threads, I'm starting up a Planescape/Spelljammer campaign with my group, and that gave me a fun idea. A way to try and explain just how bonkers these settings can be to players who've never looked at either system. That idea is this, basing worlds they visit on settings from other media. Or at least showing them that it could be done. So I wanted to challenge others here to see how you could do it.

As such, here's the basic rules of the game we'll play. Each participant is going to pick the world of some other media, from Mordor to the Mushroom Kingdom, and type out the way they would describe it to a party of adventurers. For ease of commonality, let's assume the party consists of a mountain dwarf, half-orc, wood elf, silver dragonborn, and a warforged envoy. This gives us a mix of possibly passing as human with weird traits (e.g. being short or having pointy ears) with very clearly not human for the residents of these worlds to react to. After you've finished your whole descriptive entrance, include a spoiler below revealing which world you're describing. This lets us all guess what it is before seeing what it actually was. Sound fun? I'll go first.

[SleepIncarnate]

You arrive outside a village in a verdant landscape. There are open fields to the north and west of the town, a forest to the south, and what looks like rolling hills to the east. There are several small ponds on the outskirts, as well as a stream, which some of the residents are fishing from.

Those residents seem to consist of only one race that you recognize: humans. However, some of them seem to be interacting with various other creatures that you don’t recognize, almost as if the other creatures were pets or livestock. Some are riding larger creatures as you might a horse, others are chatting with and stroking the various creatures as a pet, while still others are pitting their creatures in combat against one another.

As your group moves into the town, the inhabitants seem to at first just glance at you as new arrivals. As they look at the dwarven and elven members of your party, they seem to raise their eyebrows questioningly. However, upon spotting the other members of your party, many of them seem to light up in wonder. Many of them start to reach for various balls they seem to be carrying on their person. Some of them throw these balls near your party, causing bursts of light before more of the strange, subservient creatures appear. Others still throw the balls directly at the clearly non-human members of the party, with varying degrees of success.

Whatever the response, it’s clear that the locals have taken note of the three of you and are advancing. Roll initiative.


This is, of course, the world of Pokemon.

[DarkKnightJin]

A small one, that happened last Saturday:

I was describing an old stone hallway, with a stone door with symbols on it. One of tue characters almost tripped over a metal claw.

After a bit of explaining, one player asked, head in hands. "Are you -really- giving us a Skyrim puzzle?"
My response: "Yep."

I couldn't resist smirking like an idiot for a while after that.

[Petrocorus]

One thing i put in my games is making reference or wordplay in the name of my NPC. Or Pre-gen PC.

A notable one for villains comes from a French comics named the Oath of Amber (or at least i saw it in this first).
The villains all have names like Elohssa, Krej, Ehcuod, Norom, etc. The fun is to see how long the players take to figure it out.

[Imbalance]

A crooked sorcerer tasks your party with locating a "lost" village deep in the forest. As you set out, you can't shake the feeling that he's either watching or following you. At length, you see the signs he said to look for: low bushes with small, red berries and, more importantly, tiny baskets filled with this fruit.

Any further investigation reveals nothing. There is no indication of a village nearby. Suddenly, magical energy crackles around each member of your group. For a moment, the ground beneath you disappears, and as the glamor fades and your sight returns you find yourselves separated and among extremely tall grass or next to an enormous leaf. Then you notice that the trees have become impossibly tall. As you call out to one another and regroup, you begin to realize the truth of what has happened to you, and that's when you all see the road.

Leading away from the giant bushes with plump, round berries as big as your head, past the baskets that are now proper bushels to your eyes, the path enters a cluster of shapes that resemble oversized toadstools with broad stems. As you draw closer, figures emerge from doorways carved into the fungus, and you are approached by a menacing bearded mage. You can see it is the one the sorcerer warned you about - the one in the red cap.

What do you do?

[Millstone85]

A world where fantasy races are limited to aarakocra, giff, gnolls, kuo-toa, lizardfolk, loxodons, minotaurs, tabaxi, and other anthropomorphic beasts.

More a genre than a reference to a specific work.


What do you do?The smurfious smurf would be to smurf. Does that smurf a Smurf (Smurfing) smurf?

[Kurt Kurageous]

This is, of course, the world of Pokemon.

An evil world where free creatures are enslaved and forced to fight other enslaved creatures for the ego, amusement, and personal power of the slave holders. Some of the enslaved clearly suffer from Stockholm Syndrome.

I vote to begin an immediate emancipation and plan to go full on John Brown.

[Millstone85]

the Mushroom KingdomI know how I would do that one.

In your journey through the Underdark, you meet two duergar brothers and their pet velociraptor. They are on a mission to rescue a myconid sovereign that has been captured by a dragon tortoise. The sovereign is being used to raise an army of spore servants, the command of which has been split between eigth half-dragon tortles. To complicate things, the duergar brothers do not know in which stronghold the sovereign is being held.

[Keravath]

As your portal fades you find yourself standing in a corridor made of metal. The walls seem to be all metal and must have cost a fortune. There are strange protrusions and what looks like they might be pipes. The floor appears to be a metal mesh of some sort. It is almost impossible to be silent if you are wearing metal armor or boots. The sounds of your footfalls echo down the corridor which extends in both directions. You continue along the corridor to what appears to be a door. You hear a strange skittering noise but can't locate where it is coming from.

Opening the door takes some work to figure out but it doesn't seem to be locked. Beyond the door the corridor continues. On the right there is a door opening into a room that seems to contain five sarcophagi, they have a top made partly of glass and appear to be empty. There is nothing else in the room. Returning to the corridor it is again blocked by another metal door. Opening this one leads to a strange room containing many small windows, most of them dark. A few show coloured lines and what looks like a strange script. There are a few chairs scattered about looking at the small windows. You hear a skittering noise but it is louder this time and seems to be coming from behind you somewhere.

Another look around the room reveals more of the strange script written on some of the walls and a couple of the chairs.

One set of characters appears to be more frequent that others. Although you don't understand it you write it down in case you need it later ..

It reads NOSTROMO.

Roll for initiative. (and pray :) ).

[SleepIncarnate]

A crooked sorcerer tasks your party with locating a "lost" village deep in the forest. As you set out, you can't shake the feeling that he's either watching or following you. At length, you see the signs he said to look for: low bushes with small, red berries and, more importantly, tiny baskets filled with this fruit.

Any further investigation reveals nothing. There is no indication of a village nearby. Suddenly, magical energy crackles around each member of your group. For a moment, the ground beneath you disappears, and as the glamor fades and your sight returns you find yourselves separated and among extremely tall grass or next to an enormous leaf. Then you notice that the trees have become impossibly tall. As you call out to one another and regroup, you begin to realize the truth of what has happened to you, and that's when you all see the road.

Leading away from the giant bushes with plump, round berries as big as your head, past the baskets that are now proper bushels to your eyes, the path enters a cluster of shapes that resemble oversized toadstools with broad stems. As you draw closer, figures emerge from doorways carved into the fungus, and you are approached by a menacing bearded mage. You can see it is the one the sorcerer warned you about - the one in the red cap.

What do you do?

I'm assuming this is intended as a warped version of the Smurfs? But yeah, this could easily be a trope in general rather than a specific example. The shrinking thing happens in a lot of stories, like Alice in Wonderland and Honey I shrunk the Kids.

[Helliquin]

You push on the door and it slowly spins around, gaining you access to the interior of the building. Before you lays a large room that stretches off in to the distance. The air is stale and lifeless, harsh bright light seems to emanate from the ceiling - there is no joy here, no laughter. As you proceed through the room you see countless rows of humanoids, each in their own cell, slumped over in uncomfortable chairs. On closer inspection of several of the humanoids, they seem to be enthralled - talking to themselves, repeating the same phrases over and over like an incantation, their eyes glazed over, lips dry and cracked. A thin metallic band looped over their head. They pay you no attention.

A bellowing voice calls out from the furthest depths of the room, causing all of the humanoids to slowly blink and turn their heads towards the source of the sound - flashes of fear or anger flit across the captives faces before their eyes once again turn lifeless. You crouch behind a half height wall, hiding from whatever was shouting. After several moments, it stomps past, heavy footsteps thumping across the floor making it shake. It reeks of perspiration, grease, and something burnt - something bitter.

What do you do?

Its a call centre. The monster is the overweight manager whos been eating fast food and drinking instant coffee

[Pex]

My party is currently on an island inhabited with awakened animals. When the arrived on the island a little girl sold them sea shells. The party needs to acquire gems to pay the troll to cross the bridge out of town. There are various missions they can do. They currently were hired by a man wearing yellow who wants his adopted monkey proven innocent of killing a weasel at the mulberry bush in the park. Other missions they can do include finding lost mittens for a guy named Morris who lives on 9 Lives Avenue. There's also a lookout for Shari Lewis who has been missing for a few days. The officer in charge of the case is Constable Bo P, a dog. All of the policemen and guards are dogs. It's their thing. A Mr. Cottontail wants proof his competitor in a race he lost cheated. A Miss M needs bodyguards because she gets frightened in the park eating her lunch. The party doesn't know yet it's a Phase Spider.

There will be a festival attended to by the King, a lion named Nat, with his daughters Natalie and Belle. There's a pie contest and the winner is awarded the Golden Ladle. It's guarded by Constable Bo P. The King will call for entertainment. Morris is one of them playing the violin. While Morris plays a human and cow, both in clown make up, come out and dance. At some point the human drops his pants as the cow leaps over him. Constable Bo P. finds this hysterical and doubles over laughing. While she's distracted Belle steals the Golden Ladle.

[KorvinStarmast]

not sure if this will work, as it references the label on cans of produce from another era.

Party emerges from the forest and comes into a miles-long valley. There are a lot of houses and fields, and acre up acre of peas, corn, beans, onions, berries, etc.

Each evening, the ground shakes as out of the northern end of the valley the tromp tromp of footsteps announce the arrival of he who will collect tribute ...

The Jolly Green Giant

yes, our party ran into this in a 1e AD&D ... it was a hilarious encounter for a variety of reasons, part of it being that the Hill Giant was also a Druid.

[Willie the Duck]

The party is hired by a group of rangers who are having trouble with a pair of bears (one normal, the other diminutive, or maybe one normal and the other dire if that party is high enough level) who keep mugging (and leaving alive, amazingly) travelers for their rations. Exactly why the larger bear is wearing a neckties and porkpie hat is unclear. Perhaps the pepto-bismal-pink displacer beast or sky blue blink dog wearing the same getup could explain the situation.

Yogi bear and the rest of the Hanna-Barbara lineup.

[Petrocorus]

My party is currently... Golden Ladle.

What is this reference?

[Imbalance]

The smurfious smurf would be to smurf. Does that smurf a Smurf (Smurfing) smurf?

You're smurf-damn right it smurfs!

[Willie the Duck]

What is this reference?

'The little dog laughed, to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon.' I'm assuming that Belle is something of a dish (old euphemism for a desirable woman).

[DMThac0]

The party is hired by a group of rangers who are having trouble with a pair of bears (one normal, the other diminutive, or maybe one normal and the other dire if that party is high enough level) who keep mugging (and leaving alive, amazingly) travelers for their rations. Exactly why the larger bear is wearing a neckties and porkpie hat is unclear. Perhaps the pepto-bismal-pink displacer beast or sky blue blink dog wearing the same getup could explain the situation.



Can I tame the gargantuan purple ape?

[Willie the Duck]

Can I tame the gargantuan purple ape?

Sure, although if color is not an issue, apparently there's one for sale (https://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/televisiontv_theme_lyrics_kids_shows_soundtrack/magilla_gorilla-lyrics-79838.html).

[sithlordnergal]

The light of the Teleport spell fades. Its clear that something went very wrong, as you are not at your desired location. You find yourself in a frigid plane, with snow as far as the eye can see. Please make Con saves vs. the cold, as the bitter wind cuts through your clothes and armor. Looking around, you can see this was the site of some great battle. Scorch marks can be seen in the snow, probably from fireballs and similar spells, and you can see the ruins of odd looking structures nearby, as well as the smoking form of some great metal beast that seems to have been killed during the battle.

As you start making your way towards the entrance of a nearby cave to get out of the snow and wind, you hear the sounds of spells and shouting from inside the cave. Rushing in you see an odd site, a great, white, bear-like beast is fighting a group of white humanoids that lack faces. Anyone trained in Medium to Heavy Armor, make Insight or Intelligence checks, anyone trained in Arcana make Arcana checks. (Make sure DC is low enough for the party to succeed)

It appears that those faceless humanoids are actually wearing some sort of armor, and using wands that you've never seen before. One of the humanoids points their wand at the beast, and appears to cast two Quickened Firebolts from it. Finally, you can see a being dressed from head to toe in an odd looking black armor, please make Wisdom saves against a Fear effect due to the aura of this individual as it turns to look at you before moving deeper into the frozen cave. The bear-like beast roars from being struck with the Firebolts and charges at the armored humanoids, what do you do?

Welcome to Hoth, circa 3 ABY, A.K.A you just entered the Battle of Hoth and saw Darth Vader himself.

EDIT: Druid, add Wampa to your wild shape =p

[Edenbeast]

You wake up after a long night of sleep. That witch you fought last night appeared in your dreams, although you don't remember much of it, just that terrifying face of hers, the same when the paladin struck her down with the final blow. You all feel a bit strange, a little heavy in the head. When you sit up and look around, you notice you're at a different position at the campfire. When you look at the person to your left, you're shocked to see yourself! Roll a wisdom safe to keep your sanity.

[Lord Torath]

While Morris plays a human and cow, both in clown make up, come out and dance. At some point the human drops his pants as the cow leaps over him. Constable Bo P. finds this hysterical and doubles over laughing. While she's distracted Belle steals the Golden Ladle.First read through, I thought Morris was playing a cow and a human at the same time, both wearing clown make-up. You may be missing a comma there.

What is this reference?..and the Dish ran away with the Spoon! :smallbiggrin: I suppose it could be a reference to Robin Hood's "Golden Arrow"

Other than Dish being slang for a pretty girl, is there anything more explicitly nursery-rhyme-related labeling Belle as a Dish? I don't get the reference of lion-King Nat and his daughters.

[Petrocorus]

Other than Dish being slang for a pretty girl, is there anything more explicitly nursery-rhyme-related labeling Belle as a Dish? I don't get the reference of lion-King Nat and his daughters.
I honestly didn't get anything at all. I'm assuming i don't have the necessary cultural background.

[Lord Torath]

I honestly didn't get anything at all. I'm assuming i don't have the necessary cultural background.Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
The Cow jumped over the Moon.

The little dog laughed to see such a sight,
and the dish ran away with the spoon!

It's a children's nursery rhyme in the US.

All around the mullberry bush,
The monkey chased the weasel!
The monkey thought it all was in fun,
"POP!" goes the Weasel!

There area also the Kittens that lost their mittens, Curious George (the monkey and the Man in the Yellow Hat), and a bunch of other children's stories and songs/sayings.

[Willie the Duck]

I honestly didn't get anything at all. I'm assuming i don't have the necessary cultural background.

It was a deep dive into Boomer-Millennial American Children's stories and rhymes. Pex really outdid himself. I will write up a synopsis if he doesn't.

[Cynthaer]

I don't get the reference of lion-King Nat and his daughters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_King_Cole

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_King_Cole

(Dunno about the daughters though.)

[Astofel]

You appear in the middle of a large city, with tall buildings overshadowing the narrow alleyway you've appeared in. The sky is dim, brown in colour, and something is steadily falling from it. Your first thought is snow, but it's far too hot for that. Instead, it is ash that slowly drifts down, covering everything in a soft layer of choking grey. Something flies past overhead; looking up you manage to catch a bundle of tassels just before they disappear from sight, as though attached to something moving at high speed. Shortly after, something lands behind you in the alley with a heavy thud. Turning to look at it you see something that looks human, or rather, used to. Driven through its body are several large metal spikes, and most disturbingly there is a spike through each eye, and you can barely make out tattoos surrounding each eye spike. Although it should be blinded the monstrosity appears to look right at you. It extends one hand, and suddenly all your swords and other metal weapons free themselves from their sheathes and fly behind you. Roll initiative.

This is of course, the world of Scadrial from Mistborn, during the days of the Lord Ruler. I think a Steel Inquisitor would make for quite the challenge for your avarage party, especially one utilising metal weapons and armour.

[Pex]

First read through, I thought Morris was playing a cow and a human at the same time, both wearing clown make-up. You may be missing a comma there.
..and the Dish ran away with the Spoon! :smallbiggrin: I suppose it could be a reference to Robin Hood's "Golden Arrow"

Other than Dish being slang for a pretty girl, is there anything more explicitly nursery-rhyme-related labeling Belle as a Dish? I don't get the reference of lion-King Nat and his daughters.

Old King Cole was a merry old soul . . .

Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie.

[Maelynn]

The large wooden doors finally swing open to reveal the interior of the castle. At first glance, it appears uninhabited - the corridor stretching out in the distance seems to be painted with faded colours, their long gone vibrancy and liveliness matted by a thick layer of dust. If anything lived here, it is either long gone or has little care for upkeep. The one thing out of place is the marks adorning the doorway... they look like claw marks.

When you enter the first room from the corridor, you notice a candelabrum and a clock on a shelf. They seem out of place, and it takes you a moment to realise why; there's not a speck of dust on them. Closer inspection reveals nothing out of the ordinary, however. Not even further claw marks, or anything else that might gain insight regarding the current resident - or the fate of the original residents. The air is pregnant with a heavy silence, as if the entire castle is holding its breath. You wonder what it is anticipating. And whether you will be ready for it.

As you move on into the dining room, the first thing you see is a very large dining table. It's relatively hard to miss, as it takes up most of the space in this area. When you look at the table again, you suddenly notice something that wasn't there before you looked away: a silver serving platter with a teapot and a few cups. These too are clear of dust, as if they were taken from a cupboard only moments ago.

Suddenly, chairs are moving in from all sides. They catch you by a surprise and knock you over, causing you to land onto their cushions and forcing you prone. While you are still recovering, you realise the objects you noticed earlier have all been Awakened and are now closing in on you... the candelabrum in the front.

it's the Beast's castle from Beauty and the Beast

[Joe the Rat]

Can I tame the gargantuan purple ape?

Whenever the Bladelock gets transformed into a Giant Ape, he is always inexplicably purple.
I've named the token Muscadine Silverback.

I attacked the party with a creepy raven-haired girl and her half-dozen or so Dwarven cutthroats.

Scarecrows, Animated Armor, and Lions weigh in around CR1, and pair nicely with a farmgirl warlock.

I had them play Literal Cluedo - All of the major NPCs had color names, and a means of murder. I chickened out on using the actual board map, but did include the rooms and secret passages.

[Pex]

Scarecrows, Animated Armor, and Lions weigh in around CR1, and pair nicely with a farmgirl warlock.




I ran that adventure. The players fought the Children of the Corn. First they battled a scarecrow, a helmed horror, and a dire lion in a corn field. When they entered town finding all the adults dead, they encounter some children, 6 bards led by a cleric. The bards are named Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, Cindy. The cleric is named Oliver.

[Beleriphon]

I ran that adventure. The players fought the Children of the Corn. First they battled a scarecrow, a helmed horror, and a dire lion in a corn field. When they entered town finding all the adults dead, they encounter some children, 6 bards led by a cleric. The bards are named Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, Cindy. The cleric is named Oliver.

That's amazing. But why a cleric?

[Pex]

That's amazing. But why a cleric?

Campaign circumstances. He's the leader who manipulated the other children. His deity is a Lawful Evil goddess of children, manners, and discipline. She's Miss Hannigan of "Annie". Dolores Umbridge of "Harry Potter", etc.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I don't do player puzzles (like scrambled letter ones in English, etc). The only one I've done was a rebus-like one as a lighthearted joke.

The door lock was shaped vaguely like an NES controller and the "buttons" had pictograms on them. A dog (pup for up), a crown (down), a figure lifting a weight (heft, left), a dead man (wight, right), and the greek letters alpha and beta.

The code was of course the Konami code of legend.

[Sigreid]

I ran that adventure. The players fought the Children of the Corn. First they battled a scarecrow, a helmed horror, and a dire lion in a corn field. When they entered town finding all the adults dead, they encounter some children, 6 bards led by a cleric. The bards are named Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, Cindy. The cleric is named Oliver.

I had interpreted this one as the wizard of Oz, but the Children of the Corn is cool too.

[Pex]

I had interpreted this one as the wizard of Oz, but the Children of the Corn is cool too.

It was both.

[Joe the Rat]

The Brady Bunch was a nice touch. Including Cousin Oliver.

[Particle_Man]

I'm assuming this is intended as a warped version of the Smurfs? But yeah, this could easily be a trope in general rather than a specific example. The shrinking thing happens in a lot of stories, like Alice in Wonderland and Honey I shrunk the Kids.

And TSR did publish modules based loosely on Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeonland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Land_Beyond_the_Magic_Mirror

not sure if this will work, as it references the label on cans of produce from another era.

Party emerges from the forest and comes into a miles-long valley. There are a lot of houses and fields, and acre up acre of peas, corn, beans, onions, berries, etc.

Each evening, the ground shakes as out of the northern end of the valley the tromp tromp of footsteps announce the arrival of he who will collect tribute ...

The Jolly Green Giant

yes, our party ran into this in a 1e AD&D ... it was a hilarious encounter for a variety of reasons, part of it being that the Hill Giant was also a Druid.

In an issue of Dragon Magazine, #60 features the "Valley Giant", I believe, on page 54.

Anyhow, I had a maze dungeon where pcs were chased by a giant yellow monster that ate up the dungeon's floating lights, but they figured it out right away.

[furby076]

You wake up in a strange land, naked and alone.
It's gray outside, night is approaching
You head down a path, carefully, hoping to find a town
A monster pops out
You wake up in a strange land, naked and alone.
It's gray outside, night is approaching
You head down a path, carefully, hoping to find a town
A monster pops out, you have a moment of deja vu and try to run away
You wake up in a strange land, naked and alone.
It's gray outside, night is approaching
You head down a path, carefully, hoping to find a town. You grab a hefty stick along your way
A monster pops out, you are not surprised this time and hit it repeatedly
You wake up in a strange land, naked and alone.
It's gray outside, night is approaching
You head down a path, carefully, hoping to find a town. You g rab a hefty stick along your way and sneak on through
A monsters comes into view, and it does not see you. With surprise, you kill it
It's monster friend pops out
You wake up, walk over to your DM, dump your soda on him and rage-quit

___what game is this?___

[Zilong]

You emerge onto a rocky shore. The smell of brine is strong on the wind and waves crash in thunderous roars nearby. The land around you seems oddly bare of vegetation. Similarly, there is no one around. In fact, in the distance, you can see figures hurrying toward what looks to be the entrance to a cave. A distant metallic wail can be heard from the direction of the cave.

Before you have time to ponder this, a dragon appears above you seemingly from the out of nowhere. The dragon peers down at you with multifaceted, rainbow eyes. Sitting astride the dragon a man yells down at you: "What are fools doing out here? Get to cover!" With a flap of its great wings, the dragon bears its rider into the sky.

From above there looks to be a rain beginning to fall, but it is falling far slower than rain should be. A distance away some of the "rain" has reached the ground and you see that it is actually dark red tendrils of something, that is wriggling about. As you watch, a crimson strand lands atop a scraggly bush. Before your eyes, the bush is consumed by the red tendrils. The dragon above, now joined by several more dragons and riders are burning the tendrils before they can reach the ground, but they cannot keep up and many tendrils continue to fall. The leading edge of the hail of tendrils is fast approaching. What do you do?

- Dragonriders of Pern

[SleepIncarnate]

You wake up in a strange land, naked and alone.
It's gray outside, night is approaching
You head down a path, carefully, hoping to find a town
A monster pops out
You wake up in a strange land, naked and alone.
It's gray outside, night is approaching
You head down a path, carefully, hoping to find a town
A monster pops out, you have a moment of deja vu and try to run away
You wake up in a strange land, naked and alone.
It's gray outside, night is approaching
You head down a path, carefully, hoping to find a town. You grab a hefty stick along your way
A monster pops out, you are not surprised this time and hit it repeatedly
You wake up in a strange land, naked and alone.
It's gray outside, night is approaching
You head down a path, carefully, hoping to find a town. You g rab a hefty stick along your way and sneak on through
A monsters comes into view, and it does not see you. With surprise, you kill it
It's monster friend pops out
You wake up, walk over to your DM, dump your soda on him and rage-quit

___what game is this?___

This could be Paranoia with multiple clones, or it could be Groundhog Day, or Silent Hill.

[Petrocorus]

This could be Paranoia with multiple clones, or it could be Groundhog Day, or Silent Hill.

Or the Edge of Tomorrow for the fighting part.

[Mercurias]

I’m planning a home campaign in which the players travel an archipelago and continent with unique individual communities and cultures. Each of these unique cultures is based on a pun. Once people are through with that area and have enjoyed it (or shrugged and gone on without paying attention), I intend to tell them said pun and enjoy their delicious groans of mental agony.

One area was built around a canal, which is the city’s major economic asset. The water of the river flows so hard and so fast that the town grew into a city that enjoys a number of scientific advancements by utilizing water wheels and turbines to power them (e.g., elevator lifts, bascule bridges, automated machinery for manufacturing). My pun for this location was “Streampunk”.

[furby076]

Or the Edge of Tomorrow for the fighting part.

none of these options. it is a game. Another clue: Game is known to be rough on players

[Aelyn]

none of these options. it is a game. Another clue: Game is known to be rough on players
My first thought was Dark Souls...

[Shadurak]

I think it's Minecraft

[bc56]

You are suddenly within a rather fetchingly designed room, done out in delicate pastel shades of green and blue. In the center stands a spiral staircase, leading nowhere in particular, in a spray of ferns and flowers, and next to it is a stone sundial pedestal. You appear to be in a conservatory overlooking a wide stretch of exquisitely manicured garden. Around the periphery of the area stand marble-topped tables on intricately beautiful wrought-iron legs.
There are people here as well. Sitting on the staircase is a man holding a glass of an unknown beverage. Lounging by a small fish pool is another man, and a third, with two heads and three arms, is lying in a wicker sun chair. A woman stands gazing out over the garden in curiousity. All four of them wear unfamiliar clothes.
The two-headed man asks his companions, "What the hell happened?"
What do you do?

The bridge of the starship Heart of Gold, in orbit around the planet Magrathea.

[furby076]

My first thought was Dark Souls...

Yes. Tis the only game i have ever quit on in my entire life

[Deadfire182]

You abruptly wake up with a start, wildly looking around you. The forest you're travelling in is vibrant and green, and the day is nice for a trek with your companions. The mountains looming in the distance make it seem like there is a path to heaven itself. Of course, you only see any of this yet, as the blindfold is still on your face. You try to reach up to undo it, only to find out your hands are tied behind your back. Suddenly, the blind is lifted from your face, and the bright light blinds you for a second

Once you come back to your senses, the first thing you hear is the clacking of wagon wheels, and the faint murmur of voices. You feel the rough bark of the plank you're sitting on as the low railing behind it digs into your back. You hear a voice that seems to be directed at you, and you open your eyes to look at the source. His words are fain, but you can just make out him saying

"...finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."

[ChildofLuthic]

snip
The bridge of the starship Heart of Gold, in orbit around the planet Magrathea.

Honestly I've often thought that the Improbability Drive would be such a perfect plot device in a DnD game. "Alright guys press this button for a random dungeon." No obligation of having it make sense in the region, or connecting it to the main story.

[JoeJ]

This one should be easy to guess, but it would be interesting to see what the players would do with it.

You're following up rumors of a magical golden harp that plays itself. As you approach the town where the harp was last reported to be, you see something that looks like a green line running from the sky down to the ground. When you get closer, the green line turns out to be some sort of weird giant tree truck, fully thirty feet across at the base, which disappears into the clouds. The trunk is twisted around itself, leaving a kind of spiral ledge - you could probably climb this thing if you wanted to. Around the bottom of the trunk is a pile of rubble, mostly lumber and pieces of thatch. It looks like the remains of a house.

[willdaBEAST]

Not to derail the thread theme too much, but I greatly enjoy describing mundane familiar settings in fantasy terms and that largely accomplishes the same goal.

For example describing a basketball court without mentioning basketball terms creates a puzzling and alien setting. The same would be true with a playground.

[Tawmis]

This would be sort of a mid-adventure things...

Realizing the only way to outrun the goblins in this cave is to jump in the mining carts and go downhill in he cave; all of you jump in and give the cart a hefty shove. The cart creaks and groans as if suddenly being awaken from a deep slumber as it begins to pick up speed as you descend. The tracks suddenly become unusually stable and the environment around you seems to melt and sway and colors collide and crash, before - moment later - the mining cart itself goes off the tracks and crashes.

When you awaken, you seem to be at what appears to be an unusual carnival. You're not certain if you have struck your head too hard during the mining cart accident, but everyone here is wearing unusual forms of clothing... and some things seem to run automatically on their own - but there is no presence of magic.

It's the reverse of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon!

[Beleriphon]

I don't do player puzzles (like scrambled letter ones in English, etc). The only one I've done was a rebus-like one as a lighthearted joke.

The door lock was shaped vaguely like an NES controller and the "buttons" had pictograms on them. A dog (pup for up), a crown (down), a figure lifting a weight (heft, left), a dead man (wight, right), and the greek letters alpha and beta.

The code was of course the Konami code of legend.

To add a bit of a nursery story vibe:

Puppy, puppy, long way down the well. Down he fell. Too heavy a weight to rescue from the wight. A strong hero came and fought the wight. The hero was rewarded with apples and berries.


Not to derail the thread theme too much, but I greatly enjoy describing mundane familiar settings in fantasy terms and that largely accomplishes the same goal.

For example describing a basketball court without mentioning basketball terms creates a puzzling and alien setting. The same would be true with a playground.

Probably around 1/3 of the trinkets in the PHB are like that. One is a sheriff's star, one is a 9-volt battery. I'm pretty sure there's a d20 in the list as well.