Brainstorming needed. Help with World Building, Encounters, and More!

[Nikushimi]

Hey there! I am currently in the making of several campaigns and I basically need help because my brain is almost constantly throwing out different ideas for encounters, worlds, areas, and other things. It gets to be a bit overwhelming and sometimes it's hard to make a sense out of the jumbled mess let alone get those ideas to be cohesive and make sense.

Now, I know there are probably a million guides out there and google is a thing. I also realize that people can just make thread after thread on different subjects or questions, but I'm hoping to not bombard the place with many different threads, and to also help out others who may need help in world building or figure out how things work for encounters and other things that they want in their games.

This is a pure brainstorming thread that I wish to start. Not only for myself, but possibly for others should they need it. A pool of ideas if you will. Feel free to use any ideas that I put forth, but if you do use it in something at least give credit or say where you found it and who thought of the idea. Other than that, use whatever you think is cool and adjust it if you want to make it your own!

For the most part, if you need help ironing out ideas, or wish to help others iron out their ideas, than feel free to read and respond with your thoughts!
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The things you should list or say when posting in this thread for help is:
-What the encounter you're planning is.
-What it is you need help with. For example, in my issue down below I need help in figuring out what a Hag's enemy could be and would be something that the village fears worse than the Hag. So much so that they are willing to offer newborns to the Hag for protection.
-Any other details that may be relevant. For example. If you changed something about a monster, or how a mechanic works that may be relevant to the issue at hand. Such like Goblins are just pranksters in your world and they don't really kill, but you need a tiny creature that murders cows and stuff on a farm so you're wondering what kind of monsters you could use instead. That kind of information. Relevant to the question or brainstorming needed.
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So, now that the introduction and somewhat instructions are out of the way, I have a few things I need help ironing out in the scenario below.


My Scenario: The Uneasy Truce, a Village and a Hag
-I have a city/village. This city has a sort of uneasy truce with a Hag. The Hag protects the village and it prospers for it. However, newborns and children go missing every so often. The town tends to ignore this, or act that the child didn't exist. It's supposed to give off a sort of twilight zone feel to it. A sort of weird vibe going on in this prosperous, free of danger town. No one does anything about these missing children. Those that talk about it brush it off as "It is the way of things."

The Adventurers have a chance to come upon a woman begging the mayor/ruler of the town to help find her child. It's her only child. The mayor/ruler however simply waves her away saying "You know that we can't interfere! You know what happens if we do!" The Guards toss her out.

The whole premise is that there is something even worse than the Hag that will devour the village, or do some sort of harm to the village, and this is where my brain stops working.

Basically, this is what I need help with:

1. What could possibly frighten the villagers/citizens enough that they are willing to either give newborns to this hag or allow her to take children whenever (unsure which one I'll choose at the moment, but you get the gist. Children are being given/taken to/by the Hag).
2. If it is a creature, then what sort of creature could the Hag be able to keep at bay and the villagers be more afraid of?
3. If it is a creature, then I would like it to be something that is both mutually beneficial for both the Hag and the villagers to keep it at bay. Perhaps a common enemy? What would that common enemy be, however?

I don't want this encounter to be a typical "Oh, the Hag has this creature under her control. If we don't do what she says, it'll be worse for us! We'll all die!"

No, I want this to be a strange, uneasy mutually beneficial truce/alliance with this Hag that the Adventurers have the option of either
A. Letting it continue.
B. Putting a stop to it, but unleashing whatever the Hag was keeping at bay upon the village.
C. Figure out a way to help put a stop to both threats. The Hag and whatever the Hag is helping the village with.

I want it to be a moral dilemma. Something that the players will either find out and go "Oh ****. We just ****ed the village over by killing this Hag." or "Oh, if we take this Hag out. Something bad will happen."

And I need ideas on what that thing is. Something that is forcing the villagers and the Hag to sort of work together in this uneasy alliance.

The villagers get the protection of the Hag and the Hag gets children basically. That's the deal.

If the deal is broken then something even worse will happen to the Village. Something both the Hag and the Villagers don't want. Whether that's a creature which is a common enemy of the Hag and it's a territory thing, or if it's something else is what I need help with. It is much appreciated, thanks!

Other things that I need help with.

1. How will this effect the surrounding area? With the Hag protecting the village and keeping it prosperous and safe, how does the surrounding area and other towns get affected?
2. Would this raise the suspicions of other towns or rulers in other areas?
3. What would be a plot hook to get a party into this town? Some passing rumor of a village that is strangely prosperous and the area around the village is oddly danger free?

Thanks for the help and brainstorming!

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And that's it! That's basically the kind of scenarios and help I'm looking for and hoping to help people with in this thread.

Mine was a bit long winded, but you get the gist! Please, if you're able to help me come up with ideas, that'd be much appreciated, and if anyone has anything they need help or ideas on, feel free to post and ask. Hopefully someone, or me, am able to help. If I am unable to help or figure something out, I probably won't reply, but I'll do my best.

I don't know how well this thread will do, but feel free to help me and others with their brainstorming! Thank you!

[KyleG]

It gave me a game of thrones vibe. The guy giving the newborns to the whitewalkers. Perhaps its just a case of the mayor and his lieutenants profiting themselves. Perhaps she is holding a devil at bay with some of the souls of the children she takes. Perhaps she was once one of the children taken and there is a shred of humanity left in her protecting her once home.

My one is a request for help with a 3 or 5 pronged quest. I want the characters to unknowning empower/release a sorceress (time themed) who is bound to the island they are on. Im picturing 5 items or different things to be done that will disrupt the power that binds her here. They have just retrieved a child who is like a nexus of power but that isnt enough. Somehow i need her to manipulate the characters to disturb what holds her to the island. The nexus gives her power but shes still bound here. On a side note while they were "rescuing" the child she set in motion ??? who came thru and killed all the villagers (eg the kids parents). Only bloated corpses filled with giant maggots will be found on their return. She is going to take the child into her "care". Shes Master (doctor who) like manipulative but less overt, and is the 2nd of three 'sisters'. The first being a druidess, the last some sort of cleric but not sure how she will regain her powers yet, nor whom she even is.

[Nikushimi]

It gave me a game of thrones vibe. The guy giving the newborns to the whitewalkers. Perhaps its just a case of the mayor and his lieutenants profiting themselves. Perhaps she is holding a devil at bay with some of the souls of the children she takes. Perhaps she was once one of the children taken and there is a shred of humanity left in her protecting her once home.

Hmm, interesting. So she could be using the souls as a way to keep the evil at bay. Not a bad idea. And yeah, it is kind of like the white walker thing except that instead of keeping the Hag at bay, it's basically allowing both the Hag and the Village to survive. A morally questionable scenario where the question is "Which of these is the greater evil?" kind of deal.


My one is a request for help with a 3 or 5 pronged quest. I want the characters to unknowning empower/release a sorceress (time themed) who is bound to the island they are on. Im picturing 5 items or different things to be done that will disrupt the power that binds her here. They have just retrieved a child who is like a nexus of power but that isnt enough. Somehow i need her to manipulate the characters to disturb what holds her to the island. The nexus gives her power but shes still bound here. On a side note while they were "rescuing" the child she set in motion ??? who came thru and killed all the villagers (eg the kids parents). Only bloated corpses filled with giant maggots will be found on their return. She is going to take the child into her "care". Shes Master (doctor who) like manipulative but less overt, and is the 2nd of three 'sisters'. The first being a druidess, the last some sort of cleric but not sure how she will regain her powers yet, nor whom she even is.

Hmm, interesting. You COULD have an agent, or an ally of this Sorceress. Someone that the sorceress bound to her service years ago (since you said time themed, I imagine she's from the past or some kind of time magic user?), but if this is the case she could have bound this person and made them ageless so that if anything happened to her they could work to return/revive them in the future.

Perhaps, this survivor is actually a clone or version of herself from a different time. Perhaps whatever trapped her actually fractured her as well. Her power, as well as part of herself, being sealed away. She's been forced to wander the land, never to far from where her power and self were sealed.

Where was it that she was sealed? Why, in a child of course. Over the generations, each generation had a child that carried her power and a part of herself in them. Every time that child grew old and died, a new child would be born with strong magic because this sorceress is inside them. Which is why this child knows this woman, and also trusts her enough to tell the party they'll be okay if left with "Auntie *insert name here*" or "Big sister *insert name here*"

This woman could tell them that a nearby shrine was attacked and items which protected the village were taken. This is, of course a lie. Those items were not taken, but rather have been taken, separated from the shrine for years. Ever since she was trapped. Each part holding a piece of herself and her power. The child just holds the majority of it, but without the others she will never be whole.

So she gives them some story about how without those items the village will never return to normal, but if they return those items then the people of the village can be saved and things can be restored.

Queue to them questing for the items. However hard you want to make it. I recommend having these items be guarded by the creatures the woman said attacked the village. I recommend demons personally. They could be attacking as "guards" for these items when in reality she simply employed them with what power she has to make it look like the demons took them.

Upon getting the items and returning them to the shrine or wherever you want them, then the sorceress will finally be released. With the items placed back from where they were taken, and the pieces of her power/soul/self are brought back together they coalesce into one and the child lifts into the air along with the woman (sorceress in disguise, or a piece of her). Should the party intervene they are met with a powerful magical barrier that repels them. After all, powerful magic is at work.

The items, since coalesced/fusing into one, break (I recommend these items being crystals of some kind so they could fuse into one large crystal), the now large crystal shattering, sending the party backwards.

From the dust or magical explosion rises, now fully powered and reborn as one, all her pieces and parts of herself that were taken from her, sealing her away, are now finally back together. She is whole. The ritual to seal her, forgotten long ago, and the crystals which were used to do so, shattered.

I'm not sure what you have planned after that, but that's how I would do it. Something along the lines of having someone, whether it be my idea or some other person who survived and maybe serves the sorceress. If you do it that way then have the sorceress trapped inside the body of the child, and the crystals being pieces of her power needing to be brought together.

Basically, a Leah from Diablo 3 scenario is what I'm thinking.

[MrStabby]

So my simplistic thinking is:

Hags are magical.

Certain creatures are thematically more susceptible to magic effects in the d&d game. Turn undead, banish to different planes, circles of protection, hallow... an effect that wards rather than defeating the enemy best explains the status quo.

Of all of these I would suggest Fey, celestial or elemental.

An elemental threat will often have poor saves to this kind of thing so has plausibility benefits.

Fey are flavourful and as most hags are fey it enables a potentially rich backstory and could provide nice clues for any prospective follow on campaign.

Celestial, a fallen angel, can make for a more challenging moral picture. Evil hag vs an angel... and the threat is the angel? When it comes to choosing sides and actions it might prompt players to explore more deeply.

Making the hag a cleric, or at least massively changing the spell list to excel against this type of enemy may be needed to make this rock/paper/scissors conflict work (town could defeat hag, hag can defeat Threat, Threat could defeat town).

[Nikushimi]

So my simplistic thinking is:

Hags are magical.

Certain creatures are thematically more susceptible to magic effects in the d&d game. Turn undead, banish to different planes, circles of protection, hallow... an effect that wards rather than defeating the enemy best explains the status quo.

Of all of these I would suggest Fey, celestial or elemental.

An elemental threat will often have poor saves to this kind of thing so has plausibility benefits.

Fey are flavourful and as most hags are fey it enables a potentially rich backstory and could provide nice clues for any prospective follow on campaign.

Celestial, a fallen angel, can make for a more challenging moral picture. Evil hag vs an angel... and the threat is the angel? When it comes to choosing sides and actions it might prompt players to explore more deeply.

Making the hag a cleric, or at least massively changing the spell list to excel against this type of enemy may be needed to make this rock/paper/scissors conflict work (town could defeat hag, hag can defeat Threat, Threat could defeat town).

My question is, with these suggestions, is why?

For example. Why is the Angel a threat? What makes this Angel want to destroy or rampage over this town and the Hag being strong enough to keep it at bay? Perhaps that's why she takes the kids, is to use them somehow as a power source.

For Fey, my question would be...why again. Both, according to certain legends, take children. So, why would the village allow the Hag to take children, but fear the fey doing so? What sort of Fey is the Hag fighting with that the village also wants kept away? Perhaps an intrusion from the Shadowfell and the fey there where the fey there are a lot more dastardly than the fey of the feywilds?

One big thing that I need when thinking of encounters or suggestions is the "Why" of things because most of the people I will be DM'ing for often ask such questions. For example, in a 2nd edition game I DM'd I had a town under lockdown. This was a thrown together campaign and a lot of details I didn't really have the "Why" of. This example fell to my religion of the kingdom. I didn't really have any particular deity, and so when asked "Who do you worship" I had to come up on the fly and basically made mortals that ascended to godhood. Then came the question of "Oh, how did they do that? Why did that happen?" I was at a loss and had to come up with something later.

So for me, having a "Why something is happening" helps.

But, that's not to say those suggestions are bad. I quite enjoy that take, and might even use one of them if I can figure out a "why" of it.

For Elementals it could simply be that there is a portal to the elemental plane of fire, and it would destroy not only the Hags home, but also the village, but no one in the village is powerful enough to keep the portal closed, except the Hag. So she keeps it shut. If she dies or anything else, the portal opens ushering in waves of fire and elementals that burn the forests and fields around the village, and the village with it. Turning the entire area into a sea of flame. A desolate waste of molten earth....hmm, I like that.

Brainstorming!

If anyone else has any suggestions, or anything they need help with and can get answered, feel free to post! I will post other things if I need help with them in here. Much obliged!

[MrStabby]

My question is, with these suggestions, is why?

For example. Why is the Angel a threat? What makes this Angel want to destroy or rampage over this town and the Hag being strong enough to keep it at bay? Perhaps that's why she takes the kids, is to use them somehow as a power source.

For Fey, my question would be...why again. Both, according to certain legends, take children. So, why would the village allow the Hag to take children, but fear the fey doing so? What sort of Fey is the Hag fighting with that the village also wants kept away? Perhaps an intrusion from the Shadowfell and the fey there where the fey there are a lot more dastardly than the fey of the feywilds?

One big thing that I need when thinking of encounters or suggestions is the "Why" of things because most of the people I will be DM'ing for often ask such questions. For example, in a 2nd edition game I DM'd I had a town under lockdown. This was a thrown together campaign and a lot of details I didn't really have the "Why" of. This example fell to my religion of the kingdom. I didn't really have any particular deity, and so when asked "Who do you worship" I had to come up on the fly and basically made mortals that ascended to godhood. Then came the question of "Oh, how did they do that? Why did that happen?" I was at a loss and had to come up with something later.

So for me, having a "Why something is happening" helps.

But, that's not to say those suggestions are bad. I quite enjoy that take, and might even use one of them if I can figure out a "why" of it.

For Elementals it could simply be that there is a portal to the elemental plane of fire, and it would destroy not only the Hags home, but also the village, but no one in the village is powerful enough to keep the portal closed, except the Hag. So she keeps it shut. If she dies or anything else, the portal opens ushering in waves of fire and elementals that burn the forests and fields around the village, and the village with it. Turning the entire area into a sea of flame. A desolate waste of molten earth....hmm, I like that.

Brainstorming!

If anyone else has any suggestions, or anything they need help with and can get answered, feel free to post! I will post other things if I need help with them in here. Much obliged!

Ok... so some potential "Why". Seems like you have some elemental ideas so for the others...

A fallen angel has raised an army and a portal and is looking to attack the material plane as a stepping stone on a crusade against a sleeping titan and has targeted this town as the first step. Unknown to the party, buried deep beneath the old inn is a vault with ancient lore in it that the angel seeks to use to pin down and defeat their old enemy.

There are a series of standing stones erected to protect the area from celestial incursion, raised by a long forgotten evil cult. The nature of the enchantment is powerful but must be fueled by child sacrifice.


For the fey...

The hag long ago made a gamble with a powerful archfey and lost. The wager, was on an enchanted game of cards and the cards drawn determined not only the winner, but also the fate of the loser should they not pay their debt. The deciding card was plague. The hag must pay a debt of children to the archfey or else the spells woven I to the deck of cards will cause a plague to pass over the land.