ITT Plot hooks you have always wanted to use. I have always wanted to do a classic Final Fantasy story.
>a prosperous kingdom uses elemental crystals to power airships, modern industry etc
>suddenly a mysterious sage, Algor, is admitted to the royal court, claiming that unless the realm gives up the benefits of the crystals it will be destroyed
>the people become rabidly opposed to using crystals
>the PCs must prove Algor is a spy from an envious rival looking to weaken the fair kingdom with false prophecies.
Orcs practicing a heretical religion have been immigrating into many more civilized kingdoms, under the pretense of a dark cult slowing conquering their home countries. However, many of those orcs could very well be infiltrators of that same dark cult.
Worse, the dark cult's propaganda has been ensnaring the hearts and minds of the civilized kingdoms' rebellious, impressionable youths.
What can be done to stem the tide?
>>43704366
have you considered genocide? i'm only asking, but in my experience it fixes most things right quick
>>43704298
>Plot hooks you have always wanted to use
>The princess was kidnapped (by a dragon, perhaps) and you have to go save her
>She's actually kidnapped and is grateful you rescued her
Why can't we have the classics anymore?
>>43704366
/pol/ pls go
>>43704375
The problem is that the strength of man has failed, and the virtuous are despised for their valor. Our leaders, corrupt and twisted as they are, believe that they can welcome the enemy in.
>>43704366
You send in the second coming of an ancient emperor who dwells in the Frozen Lands to destroy them.
>>43704400
>implying that's /pol/
>>43704400
>He doesn't like playing games with references to contemporary issues
>>43704386
because that's mysoginy. report to your nearest tumblr and have your priviledge checked immediately, cis scum piss baby.
>>43704407
What is this, Europe? I thought we wanted to play a fictional game.
>The BBEG has discovered the party is prophesied to destroy the world
>The BBEG has discovered the world relies on an evil god for all its power
>The BBEG wants to stop the use of it, party wants to stop him
>The BBEG wants to capture the party to save the world
>>43704539
>the evil god's lieutenant was the party mascot all along
>>43704478
>I thought we wanted to play a fictional game.
It's taking place in fantasy Europe, right?
>>43704298
>Magicians thought magic was a limitless resource.
>They were wrong.
>Now, there is no magic left, and as a result the world is tearing itself apart politically.
>You are part of a band of survivors, and a desperate man offers you all positions of power in a nearby kingdom if you can stop a mass kidnapping.
>The kidnappers claim sacrificing enough souls can restore the world's magic if a specific ritual is performed, and consider it for the greater good.
No magic items, martials only, Final Destination.
>>43704386
>A woman
>Being kidnapped
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE KILL YOURSELF WHITE CIS SCUM
>>43704386
I've played this one more or less straight, and my players loved it. It wasn't a dragon kidnapping a princess, more like a dragon-man kidnapping the chieftain's daughter and holding her hostage, threatening to kill her if the tribe acts against him.
>>43704425
>Frozen Lands
Which ones?
I have always wanted to run a time-travel campaign (much in the line of a Chrono-Trigger). I had fleshed out an overall plot and planned on 6 different time periods for the party to explore with some very fleshed out, and some just a short outline.
>>43704298
>suddenly a mysterious sage, Algor, is admitted to the royal court, claiming that unless the realm gives up the benefits of the crystals it will be destroyed
Everybody says he's full of shit unless he proves it.
Cue climate change metaphor!
>>43704386
Why don't you use it, then?
>>43705227
What was the reward?
>>43705227
>dragon-man
So was he a man, a dragon man, or maybe just a dragon?
>>43704366
convince the civilised kingdoms' leaders to take in even more of those orcs, and that they need to pull out any military they've mobilised to attack the dark cult
problem solved, and nobody gets hurt. see?
I've always wanted to see conscription used, either in a Red Dawn style defend-the-homeland or a fantasy undead army is coming near, all able bodied men are hereby recruited in to their local garrison.
>>43704298
>The Princess has been diagnosed with an incurable disease
>Instead of waiting to die on her death bed she has chosen to end her life at a great waterfall
>You and your party must escort her safely there.Plot twist: she's not dying of disease and was a plot by her siblings to get her out of the way. She survives the jump and gains class levels in her new life after being rescued from drowning. You meet her later down the line and help her get her rightful place back on the throne.
>>43706849
There's a game called the Price of Freedom that is basically just that. The covers are pretty metal.
*Now with rules for Helicopters!
>>43704298
I just want one Final Fantasy game where the crystals are evil.
They're crystalline aliens who crash-landed on this world, but encased themselves in crystals because the natural environment is toxic to them, or maybe they just hate it.
They're powerful, but for whatever reason they can't do anything themselves(maybe they're still slowly recovering from the crash), so they grant power to, and manipulate, a group of heroes in an attempt to change the land to be more habitable to them.
>>43707033
>They're powerful, but for whatever reason they can't do anything themselves(maybe they're still slowly recovering from the crash), so they grant power to, and manipulate, a group of heroes in an attempt to change the land to be more habitable to them.
Technically you're describing 13 before it got all wonky
>>43704298
>Turns out the Sage was right
What do?
>>43707063
I'll admit, I havent played much of FF13. Partly due to disinterest, partly due to my XBox360 dying.
>>43706973
I do love the idea of it, going innawoods or unnaground, especially when your GM is notorious for setting modern day games in the local area (Houston), I've floated the idea his way about doing one starting out as basic copies of ourselves with what we have to hand then going on to become full operators during the course of the game.
>>43704366
That's a really poorly masked allegory for Syrian refugees. Go back to /pol/.
>>43707416
You have pulled off the mask. Do you expect it to die?
>>43707416
Go back to Syria, Sandnigger.
>>43707526
Shitposting isn't really ironically funny anymore, anon.
>>43704366
Embrace multiculturalism, obviously.
>>43706816
Sick reference bro
![Witch-Craft-Works-Essential-04[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/P8W7xlg.jpg "Witch-Craft-Works-Essential-04[1].jpg")
>>43704675
Would you rather have the princess be a man?
>>43707559
You're the one talking about the thinly veiled shitpost, instead of just ignoring it.
The party finds and takes care of the little girl, the sole survivor of her entire village, and brings her with them on their adventures. Girl is somewhat useful in whatever they teach her. After a certain point the girl anounces shes the BBEG, big shocker i know. Tears are shed and bitching will ensue but shortly before everything explodes the ACTUAL bbeg comes in and kills the little girl bbeg. Successively greater bbeg's come in killing the previous one or letting their existence be known to the party when the old one dies. They were all sent/setup to be bbeg's by the one above them. Eventually this will culminate into them meeting the god that rules over the entire universe as the final bbeg and this whole thing was for shits and giggles. When they finally ascend greater godhood they learn that the only thing keeping the universe in check is constantly making terrible terrible things happen to the people of the universe to offset the over abundance of good karma. They are now the bbeg/s.
I'm just not sure how i could pull it off satisfactorily for me and the group.
>>43704430
>>43704431
>implying any contemporary references aren't an excuse for you to hamfist your shitty pseudo-political beliefs on your players as the GM
I know exactly how your shitty games go, you colossal faggot.
>Take in, but carefully screen orc refugees for cult involvement
>oops! Several slipped through and summoned their dark god in the capital anyway~
>okay, maybe we'll offer incentives for refugees to betray cult members as well?
>Every last orc is secretly a member of said cult or relayed to someone who is, they would never betray one of their own even if they intensely disagreed with their philosophies. The capital still gets wrecked. Millions dead.
>...
>Okay...well I guess we kick out all the orcs, close the borders and the we'll personally lead a team of adventurers who answer to no one in order to systematically kill all orcs suspected to be members of the cult, innocent or no. Our alignments will probably change...but it's for the greater good.
>Congratulations you guys! You did it! You saved the world! Your alignments didn't change because the orcs were all evil anyway!
>Now onto the next story arc: a nation of elf druids who share everything they have with each other are trying to force smaller nations to do the same! You must stop them before it's too late!
>>43707830
I'd actually play the shit out of those campaigns.
>>43707830
And people say D&D isn't realistic.
>>43707830
Would remove kebab with and preserve fromage.
>>43704298
>crystals
this is the worst trope
fuck crystals
>>43708001
"Bitch! Me and my party just crashed a black dragon into Gruh-dom Insane the Orc's mountain hideout. I'm not sure how much more real you want this to get."
![1425077130905[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/KPPMsmG.png "1425077130905[1].png")
>>43708023
>Nazi
>Preserve fromage
Fromage cannot thrive until kraut is either subjugated or removed altogether.
>>43707830
>they would never betray one of their own even if they intensely disagreed with their philosophies
This is actually true though, the Orcs have been planning this attack for months and have probably discussed it among the vast migration herds and yet not a single voice went to the proper authorities on the issue.
They support this, they may not pick up a sword or chant the incantation, but they're silently cheering the attack as it happens.
>>43708073
That's a spy /k/omrade operating in the fromage, this is a kraut.
>>43707922
>>43707922
I would to, but only because they're so retardedly black and white that the players becoming extremists to fight extremists is hilarious. They're murder hobos anyway. But when the GM is railroading everyone to validate his own shitty beliefs and doesn't even make anything beyond a piss poor attempt to hide it, I'm too mad to play.
>>43708001
>translating your murder hobo tabletop 1:1 to real life and claiming what works in one would work in another
Holy shit, anon, pull yourself together. You're not thirteen anymore.
>>43708130
>Triggered
>>43708074
>the Orcs have been planning this attack for months and have probably discussed it among the vast migration herds and yet not a single voice went to the proper authorities on the issue
>probably
Right, because the DM says so, huh? Nevermind all the orcs informants that help the kingdom call down precise magical hellfire on knownew cultist camps? Nah, those don't exist, it was our scryers who found those bases. All by themselves! Even though said scryers find themselves being publicly outmatched by child sorcerers from the backwater villages several times a year. Give me a break.
>>43708130
>I would to, but only because they're so retardedly black and white that the players becoming extremists to fight extremists is hilarious. They're murder hobos anyway. But when the GM is railroading everyone to validate his own shitty beliefs and doesn't even make anything beyond a piss poor attempt to hide it, I'm too mad to play.
This is why you present the players with choices on how to tackle this issue.
They could try to find ways to forcibly eject the Orcs from the region, which does not have a 100% chance at success and will require significant alterations in the current trends of society...
... Or they could target the Orcish cells that crop up in the region and eventually take the fight to the Orc Homelands where the entire problem started. Killing the cells does not stop the issue, killing the leadership in the Orc Homelands does not stop the issue, the isolated assaults continue as the region they fought for becomes more Orcish, and that's just how things are going to be now.
>>43704298
I wrote this one down somewhere after stumbling over it in a /tg/ thread some 3-4 years ago.
>Evil wizard has cursed the Crown Prince so that all the monsters in his nightmares take shape and wreak havoc on the kingdom
>The party is tasked by the King to hunt down the monsters while the Archmage works on a cure for the prince
>>43708248
Those orc informants that are massively outnumbered by the those playing the double-agent and selling arms and equipment to the enemy or in many cases using it as a chip to join said evil cult?
Or those that recieve tutorage and instruction then run to the dunes to show the cult what they have been taught?
I find it barbaric that an orc would force piercings upon a child, or punish them with permanant disfigurement or will trade their she-orcs.
>>43707797
Reminds me of http://bato.to/reader#0c692ee250a69db9_1
>>43708193
You gotta roll higher persuasion than that. Are you sure you wrote all your bonuses down on your character sheet?
Let me see...oh, you missed the persuasion bonuses for being anonymous and being proficient in dank memes and keyboard kung-fu.
Is this your first time playing, anon? You can tell me, I won't judge. Here, I'll let you roll again. I'll even give you advantage this time!
>>43708248
Where are the Orc informants in the herds? Where are the scryers? Why isn't anything being done about the migration hordes that are ruining our cities and stamping out local culture?
>>43707703
Yes
>>43708262
>>43708306
Though we fundamentally disagree,I have to say I find creating these allegories to be quite fun.
>>43708262
So why not just bomb the orcs home? It kills all the important orcs and only stragglers which would die shortly after from lack of leadership. Problem solved AND sends a message to other would be upstart races.
>>43706759
>Gives presentation, convinces many people.
>Gets great honors, knighted by the king for his presentation.
Hurray references!
>>43708407
How can you disagree? They practice the cult in accordance as their founder intended! Without any influence from Elf, or Dwarf or other goblinoid, it is purely Orcish and untouched by the high hand of civilisation, a crude and twisted created by the ravings of a thirsty slaughterer!
Show me what the orc has spread without the use of the sword and you will show me nothing!
>>43708306
It's not the Orcs we need to look at. They've always been Barbarians and can not help but be barbaric. I'm telling you, it's the Temple of Socialistus that is encouraging them to come, and for us to accept them. How many Humans or Elves live in Orc kingdoms? None! They say they have disavowed their dark god Marx, but they lie. They worship him still!
There is this island. Jewel of the sea, grade a farmland, food grown there is sweeter and better than anywhere else. The only reason why the island is not part of any known kingdom is because it's small and out of the way of any major trade routes. The people of the island gets just about everything they need from the island, everything else comes from a trading ship that pops up every few years
The players wash up on the island during a storm. They are cared for and given a small pretty rundown house while they stay the island.
Think sandbox game on a small scale. Maybe a few plot hooks about their past during the games too
>ITT:
>>43704298
Disclaimer: unoriginal
>be future
>not space alien laser future
>just like year 2200, still earth
>decently advanced tech
>corporations run everything, almost like they're their own little city states, but regular countries still exist
>put players in Hong Kong or something
>they're themselves, don't know how we got here or what year it is (surprise it's 185 years in the future)
>all citizens assigned, more or less owned by, a company
>party is new here, off the grid. No company.
>try to dodge govt
>agency doing chemical tests has breakthrough
>knows the situation on ID-less party
>let us test you and we'll protect you
>party undergoes procedures
>slowly discover new aptitudes/enchancents
>eventually each player finds out they've received a super power (unforeseen side effect of tests)
>reports on these tests spread
>general population aware that some people have been accidentally augmented with powers
>tens, maybe hundreds of heroes walk among them
>govt wants to hunt the heroes down
>corporations want to enlist the heroes for their own gain
>spying
>intrigue
>corruption
Mix bits of Heroes, netrunner, matrix, and whatever else and that's more or less what I want to run some time
I know I'm a faggot but I think it'd be fun
>>43708380
The informants are few and far between, but they're informing.
Our scryers are as useless as they've always been. Spread too thin amongst too many jobs in addition to being just plain incompetent.
Our wizards fly about aimlessly, bored and hoping for something to blast, even though developments in summoning magics have largely made their roles useless.
Hell, maybe a lot more than half of the orcs are evil, which puts whatever nation they migrate to at risk, but they're not all evil. That's literally impossible abs just as much of a myth as their dark god is.
And while they are certainly impressing about our youth, our youth are undoubtedly TOO impressionable nowadays.
We can take the fight to the orc homeland, i definitely advocate for that, but it's important to remember the above and to remember that even though the dark cult is threatening everyone on this star, very few nations want to do anything about it until it's too late. They're just as much to blame as those potential informants who never came forward. The cult declared war on them from the very beginning too, remember?
We should pool or resources, wizards, familiars AND scryers.For fuck's sake, even the child sorcerers are trying to help.
>>43708473
Rather ironically, the same could be said for a certain other cult, and that cult has humans, orcs, dwarves, and elves in it too. That cult is way larger. You forget they've dropped the sword approach only recently and still openly oppress anyone who would live a cult-free lifestyle.
>>43708675
>literally impossible abs
u mirin?
>>43704366
I follow the example of Nedews, and let them fuck my wife.>>43704366
>>43708796
Hear, hear! Down with all cults!
>>43708805I meant to type "and", but why? U presentin'?
>>43708796
We could go cultless! All cultists die while we give confirmed non-cultists bennies. Interview everyone. Any slightly culty people get a quick blast of nonthetical energy straight to their respect nads. No more cult babies, no more cults.
>>43708674
10/10 would play
>>43708796
True enough, but there is not a single temple that preaches death to the unbeliever nor the other barbaric tennants, the cult you speak of is far more benign and it is through that cult that has allowed us to thrive, brought us Science, Education, it has not kept fumbling in the dark like the orcs.
So much that you can now openly denounce the cult and not pay with your life, a joy not enjoyed by any other.
>>43708675
If you are suggesting that we should all pledge allegiance to the emperess, I do not agree. I doubt her lineage, and think her claim is false. She grew up under the Cult of Marx, during the Madness. Furthermore, her United Empire has done nothing against the Orc menace, and she herself has invited the roaming tribe of A'sad into our lands. Her council has even announced that they will be placing further bans on repeating crossbows. I intend to shoot no knight, but how is a man supposed to defend himself from the Orcs with nought but a hunting knife?
>>43708517
Me thinks you are confusing worship of Marx, with belief in a greater Good, my dear friend. Remember! The orcish nation was not the first to be largely composed of a single race, and it is not alone in such, even in these enlightened times. They are currently the most violent and have been for the longest time, but we viewed other "pure" races similarly throughout other eras and great wars, maybe perhaps even within your lifetime. In fact, we fought two separate nations like that in the last great war! We remind them of their deeds, lest they forget but we no longer demonize them so.
>>43709069
>repeating crossbows
Yeah, for those really aggressive deer.
You're not fooling anyone with your projectile obsession.
I'll bet you'd own a ballista if you could afford it.
>>43707172
H-Town represent yo
>>43709039
It is the same then, as it is now: The cult had to be fought, and our rights as sovereign burghers secured. It took many bloody years, and many brave sacrifices. Even after they no longer took up the sword, they passed penitence through the code of law. Don't forget, it was not too long ago that you could not marry rainbow worshippers because the cult demanded it banned.
We must fight both cults alike. That we were once subjugated is no reason to let ourselves be subjugated again.
It sure is >>>/pol/ in here.
>>43709069
Preparing to MURDER someone? How are you any better than the cultists? Do you think you'd cut down any cultists with no training? You've never even been a footman in the legion. Let the trained militia and royal legions deal with your troubles. Hell they even gave us these whistles we can blow to call them to us at anytime and their surveillance magic blankets entire cities ensuring all are safe so why do you even NEED that knife?
>>43709233
We're talking about anti-cult sweeps of elves and orcs. This is world building, not /pol/.
>>43709179
>>43707172
H-town reporting in. Have you guys been discriminating against blacks and gays yet today? I make sure to get in as much discrimination as I can every day.
>>43709113
This is not the Land Across the Sea you speak of! These are not magical arms, but merely weapons that the Regents have deemed safe for responsible citizens to use. But then the Orcs attacked, and now they want to restrict the right of the commoner! Besides, the Orcs brought their own weapons from barbarian lands. Such magical crossbows are only issued to our warriors, here. If you want to stop the tide of magical repeating crossbows, you will have to stop the Orcs, instead of disarming the citizenry.
>>43709293
If by blacks you mean dark elves and gays elves then yes.
>>43709039
The temples don't preach it any longer, but they did for the majority of their existence and killed more people than you caneed imagine.
I agree that the cult allowed us to begin to discover the fundamentals of Magic. But ever since it became clear that man could depend on Magic and his own Wit instead of false Miracles, they have actively tried to stamp out the study of Magic.
Several times throughout the ages have they tried to purge man of the knowledge of Magic so that he might be enslaved to Miracles and more easily controlled.
You can openly deny the cult and not pay with your life, indeed, but the majority of the known plane follows that cult and all your leaders are part of it.
Everyday we are presented with their ignorance to the findings of Magic by those who would rule us. The same Magic with which we strike down our enemies, or lengthen our lives, or cure sickness
Think about that my friend: your very leaders would see you dead of some foul taint before they would acknowledged that only Magic has the power to a save you, not false Miracles.
Down with all cults, I say! They are not benign and they not have your best interests at heart! To the Abyss with them and let every man decide for Himself, with his own Wit, what is Good and Proper!
>>43709210
I would much rather the worship of the rainbow was indeed still treated with scorn or kept private. But that is besides the point. The fact is their cult has been fought, and fought and fought and whenever it is fought and those who preach those ideals we share quickly turn out to be false and subjegate those under them. Where it not for the need to trade for the one resource they have by some fluke of ages past they would not be alive their kingdoms would be little more than nomads sucking the moisture from rocks.
Some like the human, we enjoy the race of freedom and cast off any chains placed upon our shoulders, at least we were.
Elves, they are unique in this place having been able to create works of technology that our world has never known. But still, they are rigid in their practices and uncaring for change.
The Orc? They need to be told what they can and can not do, for let off the leash they run wild and maddened with anger. They need the boot upon their neck, they respect naught but strength and power, yet we try to influence them with kindness and politeness, what does an orc know of kindness? Why would he want it, might makes right, he takes what he wants and laughs at kindness.
>>43709293
Less racism in Houston than in California, got nothing against a man working hard and providing for his family. Do have about a trust fund kiddie that indentifies as a quasi-sexual metronome, put him in the service, see what happens.
>>43708970
Ty anon, glad to see it might be interesting enough to pitch to my group (though we recently started a campaign so I don't know when I'll get a chance)
It'll take a lot of planning and detailing, as I can see a metric shit-ton of plot holes just from my overview
>>43709352
Friend, without it such wonders would escape us still. But aye, they do try to stamp out, but we have cast off its shackles and most view it as a guide and a safety blanket rather than the true law of the planes.
Not all cults are created equal, brother, I see where our future is heading with the reverence of the rainbow, of the sickle, of the destruction of all we have built.
Our cult was are horrific and deadly part of our history, but now we grow above it, beyond it, but still take it with us until such a time when we may all see what it is like to lay our lives on the altar of liberty and shed the blood of those that would dare take us down.
>>43709447
The worshippers of the rainbow have the most to suffer under the migration of the Orcs, though. The Orcs disdain worship of the rainbow as weak, though many do it in private. I believe many more Orcs worship the rainbow than Humans, in fact. Yet they punish it with death, or worse. Nowhere where the tribes live, can a temple to the rainbow go unmolested.
>>43709039
The cult of the light god has followed the same tenants as the cult of the dark god for millenia! They are but two sides of the same coin! The light cult has simply changed their tactics in recent times! They both began from the same violent roots and both seek the total domination of all cultures and people! They even call themselves the light cult, so we think them our allies against the dark and do not see them for what they truly are!
>>43709543
They do have most to suffer, but they are the most welcoming of the horde. They are hanging from the statues of our most valorous warriors decrying our barbaric ways.
This is what happened Nords, the once strong and fair people, long have they been our allies, but no more. They are a mockery of what the ancient tales tell us of feats of strength and navigation that we would scarcely believe, the rainbow and the dark cult now utterly rule that once noble land. We must pick the lesser of three evils, the rainbow, the dark god or the cult we have long since cowed and held at a chain.
>>43709547
The cult of the East, friend, they are the same as a fine broadsword is to a curved sword. They both can be called the same, but only a layman would mistake them as such. I urge you not to call them such.
>>43709447
We are in agreement then. You are aware that no cult that stands today has a vested interest in your personal welfare outside of the worship of their Miracles and you are aware of the true and real power of Magic.
Aye, that is good enough for me. Stay safe out there, good friend.
>>43709674
Fortune favor you, brother.
>tfw you can't talk about plot ideas without it becomes a debate over the middle east
I think I would rather deal with shitty 90's grimdark then the 00's-10's fucking everything is terrorism
>>43709640
You are mistaken, my battlebrother. The Nords are oppressed by the cult of Marx, and most insidiously! They have bought off every bard, every towncrier, and every illusion wizard in the land. They make it seem like their cult is the state religion, but in reality righteous Nords still exist. But they are forbidden from printing their holy books, and their dukes and barons are persecuted for heresy.
I, for one, have never met a rainbow worshippers who favoured the Orcs and their cult.
Why is it that the Council has agreed to alow interplanar mining? I do not want my children or my children's children to be exposed to such dangers!
We've all seen how unstable our wizard's portals are, even with our supposed mastery of the laws of magic. How many more lives must be lost before we are to realize that we were never meant to leave this plane?!
Why wasn't the citizenry informed of this? This has the reek of the trading guilds all over it.
>>43709756
>implying everything being terrorism ISN'T grimdark
weeeeeeeeeeeew lad
>>43709850
The 90's was general grimdark. Right now we pretty much focused it into only terrorism
>>43708674
Seems like it would be a bit hard to get the setting right, but sounds kickass.
>>43709859
But how is terrorism NOT grimdark. Anyone, anywhere, can be blown up or gunned down by religious extremists anytime, anywhere. The parts of the world that aren't actively being targeted are watching with a mixture of amusement and fear of being dragged into religiopolitcal bullshit just because they like different thing than the terrorists. The whole world is watching.
If that isn't grimdark, I don't know what is.
>>43709937
I'm agreeing with you. I'm just saying terrorism is only one shape of grimdark. Lets use the only rainbow of shit
>>43709815
>How many more lives must be lost before we are to realize that we were never meant to leave this plane?!
Settle down, old man.
>>43709988
*whole rainbow
>>43709988
>>43710004
Oh. Well, I agree with you too then.
>>43707416
"syrian" refugees
heehhehehe
>>43708674
Seems like something I saw in my last Shadowrun game session. That particular player, when he GMs, loves to introduce superpowers, no matter what setting or rule set we use.
Was it an original, engaging, thought-provoking story?
No.
Was it fun?
Hell yes.
>>43709998
When you're the one who gets sent to mine one of the infernal planes and you die crossing the threshold of the portal or it closes permanently behind you, you will know I was right and you will weep!
We were never meant to leave this plane I tell you, and the only plane we'll end up in is the Astral Plane when those wizard's experiments destroy this star and kill us all!
Wake up! Stop listening to the lies the trading guilds are feeding you! There is no profit to be had on other planes!
>>43710198
I wanted to be a bit more tame with the superpowers than your typical superhero setting. Nothing crazy like magneto. I'm thinking more like maybe invisibility, shapeshifting, limited telepathy, incredible reflexes/accuracy, etc. nothing too outrageously fantastical. No magic. No lasers.
I think I should be able to come up with a reasonable story. Working plot would be:
The reason the players were transported to this world is that the agency doing the tests also has developed limited, one-way time travel. Basically they can pull people from the past (our present, for example) into their time. However it's not very precise, and one of the quirks is that you never know *where* the subjects will be transported. For the party, it's somewhere in the same city and it takes a little while for the agency to locate them ("hey look, these people seem confused and aren't with any company. Are these some of our time travel subjects?")
One of the story paths would be for players to help the agency further develop time travel capacity in hopes that they can be sent back home (or if they elect to remain in the future there should be plenty of story to tell going forward). This could involve corporate espionage and securing advanced tech to further research efforts.
Basically, from the agency's perspective:
>wow, we've succeeded in pulling people from the past to our present day!
>how do we move forward with this tech?
>I bet other corporations have loads of research we can "borrow"
>how though? Everyone's on "the grid". Security too tight
>our travelers... They're "nobodies".
>hey [players], it's dangerous to go alone. Let us help
>chemical augmentations
>heightened senses and skills
>holy shit, something's wrong here. Their genetic makeup is mutating
>they're super heroes now
>wait, this could be good for us. Very good.
>world is powered by crystals
>some bad guy is destroying them
>for each crystal destroyed, an element of magic or a common thing in the world disappears
>party has to figure out how to travel across an ocean without wind for instance
>all fire is eventually gone
>all water on the planet is eventually gone
>all sunlight eventually gone
ends with an epic battle within the abyss
I have no idea how it'd work near the end but I thoughtFFVcould have taken the concept even further.
>>43710447
(Cont)
From the players prospective:
>wake up
>where am I?
>when am I?
>oh hey [friends], how did we get here?
>shit why is the govt all crazy
>what's all these regulations
>man corporations own everything? Even people?
>wait who is this secret agent ho
>what do you mean come to your lab for testing
>*stuff gets explained*
>shit nigga, well if it helps us get home...
>tests
>fuck I can read minds this is badass
>superactionherospies.webm
>>43704598
I like it!
>>43708674
So Dark Angel?
>>43707830
>Your alignments didn't change because the orcs were all evil anyway!
not
>The Orcs were all so evil, and your acts of wholesale genocide so good, your alignments change to Lawful Good, you all gain two levels, and the gods of good themselves bestow each of you with a free use of the Wish spell!
If you're going to over-exaggerate,
you've got to go all the way, bro.
>>43704539
>The BBEG is a fucking moron and never bothers to take ten seconds to explain this knowledge to the players
I always wanted to do one of those plot hooks where the PCs are sent after a "bandit" by a patron of theirs, only to discover that they're being used as hired muscle by a corrupt group that's tricked them into harming an entirely justified peasant revolt. The people they've been sent after are actually the good guys while their patrons are in the pocket of the BBEG.
Unfortunately too many of my players are the "kill first, don't ask questions" school of thinking for this to ever pay off. Pretty much any plot hook that involves an NPC fighting the party and both the NPCs and the party being alive at the end is doomed.
>>43704539
>The BBEG never considers explaining any of this to the heroes
>>43711013
>>43711045
Why would they believe him?
>>43711074
Because one of the players is his GOD DAMNED DAUGHTER, and maybe he doesn't hire a Rainbow Brigade of psychopaths to carry out his objectives?
>>43711122
Oh I wasn't going off Bravely Default's plot. But from the posts own merit there doesn't seem to be holes there.
>>43711122
>doesn't hire psychopaths
Its like you WANT them to fail their task when confronted by menial moral dilemmas.
>>43708427
Sure, if you want to create like a thousand orcs who are the sole survivors of their village you just strategically hellfired who grow up swearing revenge on your realm and end up leading a plucky band of misfits that despite all odds end up wrecking all of your shit.
It's like you don't even RPG.
>>43710745
Don't know what that is but I'll look it up
>>43712094
Ok. So bomb the homeland and equip all non-orc citizens with swords and name them Honorary Adventurer. The aim is to kill all orcs everywhere. Problem solved and now nobodies gonna get killed by goblins either.
>>43712271
We tried that when the ice elves invaded,and all we got on return is the hobgoblin problem, and then we tried that again and ended up with the orc problem.
So, sure, let's do that AGAIN and maybe we'll end up with bugbears knocking down our doors in ten years instead of five.
>>43712761
So what if we just get bigger more magical swords and we just kill everyone thats not us?
>>43712786
I can open a portal straight to the center of the sun if that'll help. Of course, the atmosphere will probably ignite and the whole plane will go up in flames too. Ah well, at least everyone who isn't us will be dead too, amirite?
>>43712786
We could, but then our erstwhile allies get all pissy about "genocide" this and "sentient rights" that. Also all the dragon blood is in that region, and all the really big magic swords have that unfortunate tendency to poison the land for generations.
And with our luck we'll end up with goblins knocking down our doors in ten years anyway.
>>43712241
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Angel_(TV_series)
Jessica Alba in tight clothing was basically it's most consistent appeal, but it did a nice near-future gene-splice cyberpunk aesthetic.
James Cameron, so...
>>43712924
Allies? What did you not get about killing everyone but us?
>>43713360
If you think you can win a war against an alliance of Ice elves, Eastern dwarves and the humans then by all means go right ahead.
I have always wanted to run a campaign where the players were each a different relic hunter/explorer type character where they were hunting for an anchient relic of some kind. The twist is I would have 4 players but wouldn't tell any of them that there are 3 other players in the campaign. Then pit all 4 against one another trying to each find the relic and fighting for it. Once two players ran into one another I would inform them of what was happening and have their split sessions merged until they stopped the interaction.
I am not really sure how to accomplish it though it just seems like to many logistical problems emerge for it to ever really work
>>43713531
We got a LOT of magical swords. We can just start chucking them in all direction and come out victorious we have so many. Hell we can even make more using the "decommissioned" swords. Theres a reason no one comes asking for our gold coins we owe them.
>>43714118
So do the dwarves. And the ice elves. And the humans.
If you start chucking those swords around wed all be dead, not just our enemies.
>>43715076
So we should get them before they get us. Preemptive everything and we come out on top.
Introduce a goofy comic relief character named Diogenes.
He's a total bro, has philosophy jokes, is a huge help to the party at times, but the BBEG's plans seem to keep on getting the poor guy in one scrape after another.They think the evil duke is the BBEG, but...oh, you know the rest.
The ones that do get it would kill me immediately afterwards, so I just enjoy the thought of it.
>Yandere eldritch being latches its "affection" onto one of the party members, preferably a caster and starts fucking up everything.
>Crime family hires the PCs to help them reclaim their city from some violent upstarts to avoid so as to avoid too many civilian casualties.
>A hooded figure has been killing the leaders of industry in a large city, preferably those who are hurting nature.
>Collection of druids have combined themselves with insects via dark magic, forming symbiotic relationships with them.
>>43704298
"We are forced to sacrifice our maidens to the evil dragon! Save us heroes!"
>It's actually a scam set up between the village and dragon
>'maiden' is in fact a sorceress that'll fuck the party up as soon as they start fighting the dragon.
A dark wizard, in attempting to place the world under his control, accidentally personifies the aspects of existance. The MCs go on a mad rush trying to defeat or befriend beings such as War, the Ocean, or Time, with the final goal of finding Death before his personality interferes with his neutrality.
>>43704298
Wait wait wait. One guy wanders in from nowhere and makes a vague threat, and the whole nation gets in an uproar? I think you should reconsider that.
>>43704298
>Entire party is illegal aliens
>No, the space kind
>Everyone has a hidden agenda that's weird as fuck (liberate dinosaur fossils, collect human pineal glands, recover lost tech from area 51, graffito the sears tower)
>But of course the Men In Black are after you
>Starts with rentacops and X-Com rookies
>Works up to competent agents, spies, and gunmen as your 'wanted level' rises while you inevitably fuck up at human social interaction/harvesting pineal glands/etc.
>Succeed at your mission and make it off-planet, with or without your buddies
>Merry diplomacy, deals, and backstabbing while fleeing the MIB
>If you fuck up too badly, you have to deal withTommy Lee Jones
>GAME OVER
>>43704298
Not gonna say where it's from, but...
>Evil wizard tries his hand at conquering a small kingdom
>Sets up hugeass necromantic ritual but rushes a little bit to get it right on the anniversary of the kingdom's founding
>THE DEAD OF THE COUNTRY RISE FROM THEIR GRAVES INTO UNHOLY SERVITUDE
>Except not, because he slapdashed the control runes and has maybe ~15% of the undead army he was trying for
>Shitton of dead people adjusting to being dead
>Shitton of living people adjusting to dead people being walking around
>~15% of the undead are pure evil and controlled by the wizard
>Effect is sustaining; any undead can create more undead
>Wizard is trying to fix his fuckup, but all we know is he hasn't left the country
>Deal with problems at home while finding the wizard and deciding what to do next
>>43708395
Would you still save him if he'd lied to you and pretended to be a girl in order to be rescued?
A horrible blight is killing off plant life. It is indirectly affecting livestock and wild animals who are dependent on plants. Humans can import grain and still eat what meat is still around so they are less affected, but nevertheless there is a strong sense of unease.
Meanwhile an scraggly fellow, while slightly tipsy on a rainy evening, tells of some ruins on the marsh which was once a wood, before the trees died. Then it was full of tricks and traps, but also treasure. What does it hold now?
>>43704298
I've always wanted to run a generation game. But I realize it takes a LOT of effort and a DM/players beyond the calibre of myself and my group.
>play local plebes or settlers
>build village
>fight wilderness
>die
>play descendants
>grow one's lands, grow one's power, grow one's legacy
>die
>play descendants
>be nobles, be royal, be heroes
>fight threats, fight monsters
>BBEG
>final destination, heroes only, no going back
>>43706890
aw yiss/10 would play
Also stealing this shit for my next campaign.
>>43704598
I like how nobody realised that this was a contemporary political issue as well.
>>43719771
11/10 on the first oneas long as it involves monstergirl natives
>>43706890
>Plot twist
Meh. Saw that one coming from the other side of the planet.
Try playing shit straight if you're going to use tired clichés and then "cleverly" subvert them anyway.
(It helps not trying to create the entire story before players enter the scene)
I've wanted to do this one for a little while now, using D&D 5e.
Basically a Renaissance Era medium-to-low Fantasy world with stable sovereign civilizations made up of numerous races that contend with one another on the political stage.
There's a number of strong faiths using most of the traditional gods, whom while not directly involving themselves in the affairs of the people of the world any more created grand sweeping monuments dedicated to themselves.
No barbarian hordes, no dickass wizards, no Empire threatening to swallow everyone up. Even things from outside the Material Plane keep their distance. The only real problem is inter nation warring occasionally.
Pretty boring setting overall.
The party would be a group of exceptional individuals summoned in secret by a Noble House of the most dominant Kingdom. They’re offered a chance to go on an amazing adventure but the chance that they might return is slim and the dangers are almost completely unknown. They also can’t know the specifics until they've been sworn to secrecy.
1/4
>>43721318
>Party hopefully agrees
>They meet with an ancient elven wizard who explains that long before the Kingdom even existed, he discovered a strange artifact that seems to have been built around the same age as the gods monuments, but found it buried in an old cave system.
>He calls it theDoorway of the Godsand its been inactive some 15,000 years.
>He spent some 700 years of his life unravelling its secrets in seclusion until the Kingdom claimed the land he was squatting on.
>After the Noble House discovers what the Elf is working on, they support him fully and discreetly, financing the best help they could get until finally the Elf thinks he’s worked out a way to enter a code to open it and send a small group through to the supposed realm of Pelor.
>The Party is that group.
>They gather what they can and go through with the old Elf, but instead of finding themselves in some blessed realm they are in an old tomb.
>The Elf informs the party that opening the way back is going to take a while, so they can go out and explore if they want while he tries to find the new code.
2/4
>>43721327
>Outside they find a desert and a settlement of primitive humans who seem to have the Party confused with Emissaries of Pelor himself.
>They spend the day learning what they can, getting to know the local people, trying to piece together what happened to have the gate buried on their own world.
>As night falls, however, something huge and dark moves in the sky over the tomb they emerged from.
>The settlers flee into the sands as destruction rains down upon them, beams of golden light blowing apart their village while they call out for Pelor to have mercy.
>The thing in the sky looks vaguely like a metal Cephalopod.
>It lands, covering the entrance to the Tomb and trapping the old Elf inside.
3/4
>>43721336
>Is the Party bad enough to fight their way into the ship, kill the highly advanced guards using energy weapons and come face to face with theMindflayer that calls itself Pelorbefore their only way back home is lost forever?
>Will the other ‘gods’ take notice when one of them is killed on a seemingly primitive planet?
4/4
Muslims are the orcs and Islamic State are the cultists
>>43704366
>the orcs are actually being funded by the elves, who wish to stop the dwarves from expanding and therefore create a new issue by helping the dark cult thrive, forcing them to fight instead of expand
>the elves constantly do this, as well as attack weaker nations and force them into unfair trade agreements.
>the only ones that managed to beat them and humiliate them were the kobolds
>>43721923
We've been over this already. We're not doing /pol/ we're doing world building. Orcs are orcs and cultists are cultists. Our setting has nations split by race. The humans have more magical swords that can be thrown far distances and unleash massive fireballs miles wide as a deterrent to average warfare. Its entirely different.
>>43722038
If you call having their enviroment poisoned with magical residue leading to long term mutations creating lesser kobold offshoots then being owned later by the humans who helped them by forcing them into unfair trade agreements and owning their economy of literal crap cause they live in sewers "winning" then oh boy did they sure show us.
>>43705227
Trogdor?
>>43708074
One day, I'll tell you about my PC's final solution for orcs: Baleful Polymorph. I actually turned it into a religion for them, and was renowed as a living saint.
Basically? We changed them, en masse, into doves and claimed it was spiritual ascension. That they could only find redemption by surrendering their ugly flesh.
We had big ceremonies where hundreds were Polymorphed and left to lose their conscious minds. The whole religion was herding them into death camps, and they loved us for it!
My character got a statue. In one hand, he holds a shepherd's crook, as a guardian of the lost. In the other, he holds a dove.
>>43723202
>dispel
>>43722073
Yeah, didn't they used to be doglike or some shit?
>>43723299
Yeah. Now they fall under reptiles cept they still can cry cause we're cruel like that.
>>43723277
>helpful wizard sees a newly made flock of doves
>his moral compass DEMANDS he frees those lost souls
>dispel
>300 orcs go straight from mindless bliss to horror as they fall enmasse 300 feet to the hard ground below
>no survivors.
>Players get sent to some tiny hickville town
>Theres been reports of people being 'melted'
>They get there and investigate the most recent incident and find large masses of skin laying over everything in the living room, the room still warm from residual body heat
>suddenly they hear a voice coming from the couch and look to see a pair of eyes, nostrils, and a mouth on the couch
>the man is still alive and his body has turned into what amounts to moss made of flesh
>eventually his 'body' will start to grow a very soft and moist hair as hes turned into this black moss that shines colors unimaginable while in light
>his conciousness is more than likely still locked away in there somewhere, but no one knows for suremore or less, its a combination of The Colour Out of Space and one the stories from Creepshow. I might get to run it soon since were in Delta Green
>>43719874
But what about >>43709815
>>43723385
>300 orcs go straight from mindless bliss to horror as they fall enmasse 300 feet to the hard ground below
>no survivors.They didn't fly so good. Who wants to try next?
i had a spelljammer campaign ready to go, a dwarven citadel infested with monsters to clear, an unstable teleportation artifact, a fleet of pyromaniac goblins after the PCs and then That Guy decided to try and blow up the engine room...
I want to run a game of Only War where the party comes from an infiltration-specialised regiment
And then turn the whole thing into Metal Gear with Tau walkers and traitors to the Imperium and goofy codenames
>>43711045
I always have the fight first, get the story later type players. I always make fights I don't want to happen much harder. yes you can kill the peasents that are actually the good guys but it will not be an easy fight and you will end up destroying most of their valuables.
obviously this doesn't happen to every party but when it's an explicitly good party, they're gonna get punished for blindly following orders.
>You and the party are sitting in a bar. You're all doing things you'd find yourself doing when in a tavern; chatting up the waitress, sulking in a corner, trying to convince the bartender you're good enough for another round. The bell over the door rings and you all hear a meaty smack. You all turn to face the door and you see a man in a horse mask crushing a patron's head against the floor.
>Before any of you finish leaving your seats, he stands up and brandishes the dead man's bottle.
>After defeating him, you unmask him, revealing a patron the bartender served earlier in the night. You then search his corpse for clues, and you find a letter written in drunken frustration and how he was forced to do it.
>>43723277
We actually thought about that.
First, the spells were Caster Level 20. Second, who'd want to cast magic like that? All the powerful orc shamans and sorcerers (Orcs don't have Wizards) were slaughtered in our crusade. Third, how can you tell a flock of magical birds from non-magical birds?
>>43704298
id power her airship with my crystal if you know what i mean
>>43711045
Honestly, I would rather work for the corrupt ground. Virtuous peasants are so boring.
