DM Rowan
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Post by DM Rowan on Jun 20, 2021 8:19:22 GMT
I'm currently running an anime inspired Isekai d&d game in a setting where there was once a lot of magic but it went into hiding about 150 years ago because the goddess of the world, Tereanna, was scared that mortals would try to take more than she could give. She has 4 ancient celestial dragons called wyrms that do her bidding in the mortal realm and one of them, Blaze Lighter, disagrees with her method, saying that taking magic from mortals is harmful and that instead they should try to talk with the mortals and teach them not to be greedy. Tereanna disagrees and none of the other wyrms (Light Seeker, Rest Bringer, and Heart Singer) would go against her.
Feeling in desperate times, Blaze Lighter has turned to desperate measures and is constructing a ritual to steal Tereanna's magic and take her place so that he can distribute the magic to mortals instead.
I need 3 macguffins/plot devices/items of importance that Blaze Lighter needs to collect in order to perform this ritual. Ideally, these things are one of a kind and very magic. At this point, the players are trying to stop Blaze Lighter, so i want them to try and race for the items before he can collect them all, I just cant think of any cool things. Any suggestions? Tone shouldn't be too wacky, but it is anime so feel free to get cliche or tropey.
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Post by dmslythytoves on Jun 20, 2021 19:18:20 GMT
Oh gosh, there are so many possibilities! Three goblets made from different materials? Three powerful Grimoires that unlock divine potential? Or go classic with a set: sword, shield, and staff. Perhaps it could be divine potential that is passed between specific individuals, so Blaze Lighter would need three individuals who carry within themselves the light of Tereanna? And when one of them dies, that light is transferred randomly. Ooh! And then, the party would need something to locate and identify these things/individuals, so maybe there are/were a selection of magical books that give information, and all but two have been destroyed and Blaze Lighter already has one, so the party has to track down the other and figure out how to unlock the abilities to locate! So you have a macguffin to FIND the mucguffins! And then, if you went this direction, one of the NPCs who carry the light of Tereanna dies, and suddenly, one of the party shows up in the book, and now Blaze Lighter will know exactly where the party is at all times!!!
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DM Rowan
Adventurer
 
The DM Renaissance is in full swing!
Posts: 96
Favorite D&D Class: Bard/Paladin
Favorite D&D Race: Half Elf
Gender: NB Lesbian
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Post by DM Rowan on Jun 20, 2021 21:02:04 GMT
Oh gosh, there are so many possibilities! Wow! I love how enthusiastic you are!!! The reply honestly got me pumped! I like the idea of the sword shield staff, very Kingdom Hearts haha but I feel like the People idea is even better, especially because I LOVE making npcs. My setting has 3 races so maybe one of each race? My only concern is that Blaze Lighter is doing all this for the sake of mortals and wouldnt want to hurt the 3 but i think i can find a way around that. Who knows, perhaps that can be a good source of conflict later ;3 Maybe one of the demons who he's bribed into working for him gets a little over zealous. Woops >:3
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DM Rowan
Adventurer
 
The DM Renaissance is in full swing!
Posts: 96
Favorite D&D Class: Bard/Paladin
Favorite D&D Race: Half Elf
Gender: NB Lesbian
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Post by DM Rowan on Jun 21, 2021 10:10:40 GMT
I'd love to hear other ideas though, if people have them, whether entirely different or expounding on the last ones. Creativity breeds more Creativity ♡
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Post by randosaurus on Jun 24, 2021 4:35:13 GMT
You could go with another classic the 3 Orbs of Dragonkind. These are fun artifacts; they have a bunch of beneficial capabilities, but you may get possessed by an evil dragon spirit occasionally and compelled to their evil deeds. They are primarily used to force any evil dragon for 40 miles travel to it by the fastest means possible.
I think the MacGuffins should present challenges and opportunities just by holding onto them. Anything with an intelligence that gives you a node to push for internal conflict that ramps up as the party approaches their goal. If 3 possessed PCs end up working at odds, there would be ample chance for conflict.
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DM Rowan
Adventurer
 
The DM Renaissance is in full swing!
Posts: 96
Favorite D&D Class: Bard/Paladin
Favorite D&D Race: Half Elf
Gender: NB Lesbian
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Post by DM Rowan on Jun 24, 2021 9:27:17 GMT
You could go with another classic the 3 Orbs of Dragonkind. Interesting! You say these are classic - are they found in source books of any kind? I would be curious to do more research. I think the MacGuffins should present challenges and opportunities just by holding onto them. Anything with an intelligence that gives you a node to push for internal conflict that ramps up as the party approaches their goal. If 3 possessed PCs end up working at odds, there would be ample chance for conflict. I can agree with the first part of this statement, I think items so powerful that holding them is a challenge in itself could be very interesting, but I dont think my players would enjoy roleplaying any real intraparty conflict. I also think posessing a player's character for a substantial ammount of time could lead to frustration. Still, I like the idea of making these macguffins hard to handle! I'm going to be thinking about satisfying ways to pull that off.
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Post by randosaurus on Jun 26, 2021 3:01:29 GMT
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daxredhammer
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Post by daxredhammer on Jun 30, 2021 11:58:38 GMT
My setting has 3 races so maybe one of each race? My only concern is that Blaze Lighter is doing all this for the sake of mortals and wouldnt want to hurt the 3 but i think i can find a way around that. Who knows, perhaps that can be a good source of conflict later.
The three may not need to die, just be 3 random people that when they get together for the first time they feel the power well up inside them and the closer they get to the god, the greater their power gets. Unknowingly to anyone else, the gods power is transferring to the three and this is why that god created the 3 races and separated them. Of course, by the time they reach the god, they have absorbed all the power and take the place of the god. So you either have created 3 new gods or they combine into a single being that could possibly bring peace to all 3 races....for a time.
Edit...I guess I don't know how to "quite" even when using the button...
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Post by dmslythytoves on Jun 30, 2021 15:48:37 GMT
Okay, to clarify, I was thinking: should one of the three die, which Blaze Lighter absolutely doesn't want to happen for multiple reasons, then the divine potential transfers at random. But using one of each race is a pretty awesome idea.
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DM Rowan
Adventurer
 
The DM Renaissance is in full swing!
Posts: 96
Favorite D&D Class: Bard/Paladin
Favorite D&D Race: Half Elf
Gender: NB Lesbian
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Post by DM Rowan on Jun 30, 2021 17:57:19 GMT
Yeah, reading back now, im not exactly sure why I thought u meant they were like sacrifices or something haha.
However I don't think the 3 new gods or whatever is a good fit mostly because the whole point is Blaze Lighter wants to make <i>himself</i> the god.
As ive been thinking about it, I've been tossing around the idea that each person has a magic item heirloom that only responds to their bloodline or something but im not sure, that doesn't feel exactly in tone. Im trying to think of a way to make it all feel very Anime. If there's a way I can rope in the power of friendship or some nonsense that would be great.
Perhaps the 3 people are just like... pure of heart or something and that's what the ritual needs??? Idk.
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Post by randosaurus on Jul 1, 2021 4:12:49 GMT
Perhaps the 3 people are just like... pure of heart or something and that's what the ritual needs??? Idk. Is it too late to seed the notion that they are "The 3 Spoken of by Prophecy"
Where they have some other, greater purpose yet to fulfill? Or perhaps, they are seeking out the 3 inheritors, and the campaign is them tracking down arcane clues of their identity. And lo, the dragons were inside each of us all a long.
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DM Rowan
Adventurer
 
The DM Renaissance is in full swing!
Posts: 96
Favorite D&D Class: Bard/Paladin
Favorite D&D Race: Half Elf
Gender: NB Lesbian
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Post by DM Rowan on Jul 27, 2021 18:22:35 GMT
UPDATE:
We're coming to a point in the campaign where im about to reveal Blaze Lighter and his plot to the PCs and at this point, at least one of the players is very angry with Tereana and is probably going to yell at her when they meet. This made me think and I realized there's a chance that they might side with Blaze Lighter once they know what he's up to which I think could be really interesting.
That being said, I want to make sure im not unnecessarily turning them off to the idea if they want to pursue it, meaning I want to make sure the ritual isn't inherently evil or harmful. That doesn't necessarily disqualify any of the ideas so far but I figured I'd share it and see if it stirred up any ideas.
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Post by dmslythytoves on Jul 29, 2021 1:28:09 GMT
A great way to keep a potential baddie positioned as a baddie is have them storm off in anger. That's a trope that lends itself to the villain ranting "I'll show you all!" as they flee the scene of confrontation.
If Tereana is saddened by this departure, that cats her as the sympathetic character, and players are more likely to side with her (usually...players are nothing if not unpredictable).
But if you're open to your players siding with Blaze Lighter, you definitely need to have an idea of how Tereana is going to react to this betrayal.
My immediate imagining is either Blaze Lighter takes off and Tereana sets them on the race to collect the Macguffins, or Tereana gets angry and Blaze Lighter and the party are forced to flee. Perhaps they would then have to find Blaze Lighter before their great search.
Ooh! And then it's an either/or: Either they side with Tereana and race against Blaze Lighter for the Three Goblets of Friendship and Destiny, or they side with Blaze Lighter and race against Tereana for the Three Bearers of the Light of Power and Strength (I'm just throwing Anime names at this point)
BUT, here's the brilliant thing! The world can begin to change a little bit depending on who they side with! If they race against Blaze Lighter, then the world around them might begin to take on elements of his work and goals. On the flip side, if they race against Tereana, then the world around them might begin to take on elements of her work and goals. Moreso than already, anyways....
Basically, what I'm saying is FLAVOR TOWN!!!!!
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DM Rowan
Adventurer
 
The DM Renaissance is in full swing!
Posts: 96
Favorite D&D Class: Bard/Paladin
Favorite D&D Race: Half Elf
Gender: NB Lesbian
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Post by DM Rowan on Jul 30, 2021 17:59:38 GMT
Basically, what I'm saying is FLAVOR TOWN!!!!! Again, I love how excited you are XD Flavor town indeed! I definitely want to leave the option open for my players, especially since (because it's an anime) I've been pushing for themes of friendship and extending kindness to people you wouldn't think to at first. BL really is an Anti-villain in that they feel like this is the only way to make everything better so if the heroes decided he was right I'd be happy to let them play it out. Tereana is more of a Force than a person with goals, at last at the level a human can comprehend. She does have a personality but she tends to let the Wyrms do her work on the material plane cause it's easier. Rn, the players (at least some of them) are upset because they discovered the reason they were all taken from Earth was because Tereana thought they were unwanted with nowhere else to go. Liesl in particular, who was seperared from her husband (who she's not actually attracted to but they're good friends and she didn't have time to process being a lesbian before she was yoinked) is ready to go yell at God. If they do decide BL is sympathetic enough to help, I also have ideas for the Demons he was working with to be like "yo actually we're gonna take ur ritual and do it ourselves F You" so that could be fun! Now I just need to figure out the ritual itself. My GF (who is brilliant and perfect) suggested making it 4 items, one for each Wyrm. The items are locked away in places that are designed to be difficult/impossible for mortals to access but open easily to the corresponding Wyrm. I like that idea cause it gives me 4 new cool dungeons to explore. The party also has a Djinn travelling with them who hasnt seen her mother in years so I thought, hey, four dungeons, four elements, why not have a genie of each element have helped build each location. I designed elemental spirits to act as guardians and guides for each of the locations. All that's left is deciding what the objects actually are. My first thought with these new ideas was a set of necklaces but idk if thats boring.
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Post by dmslythytoves on Jul 30, 2021 19:14:36 GMT
Do you want the objects to assemble into a set of super cool armor?!? Two gauntlets and two boots? When one person wears all four items, the items extend and interlock into a full set of power armor!
Ooh, or four pieces of a puzzle like thing? Forming into a tetrahedron, each facet a different element!
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