Looking for material for humorous campaign [Archive] - Wizards Community

Looking for material for humorous campaign [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
RabidPirateMan
09-21-07, 06:53 PM Im trying to make a campaign that, at its root, is just a big satire of every DnD adventure ever made. I'm currently in a group that has played for quite a long time, and they've played in enough campaigns to know all of the usual pitfalls of an adventure.

For example, I've created a dungeon that tries to explain an old question: how is there a giant room with swinging trap blades in every corner of this orc cave and why would they put it here? How would dumb orcs create such a masterwork of technology and architecture?

Well, as it turns out, on the southern shore of the island continent is a large dungeon. Long ago, a group of Illumian wizards had an idea to rake in some serious gold. They strung up a deal with a tribe of kobolds and began renovating an old mine into an open house of trap rooms. An evil lich or dragon or orcish chief would come on down, speak with a salesman, and they would walk through the trap rooms to see which deadly pitfall would best suit their ancient castle, or whether swinging pendulums or arrow slits would match the carpet better. Of course, there are plenty of add ons for each room- magic runes, self resetting, an auto-clean function for those messy moments after, feng shui energy rebalancing, etc.

So, any other ideas for a corny adventure?
Return of the Flumph
09-21-07, 07:01 PM A dragon is trying to kidnap a princess.

It will be awesome.
d24478667
09-21-07, 07:25 PM Or better, a princess trying to kidnap a dragon.
Return of the Flumph
09-21-07, 07:46 PM Or better, a princess trying to kidnap a dragon.

DAMN YOU FROSTBITE I JUST THOUGHT OF THAT!!!!!
queenfange
09-21-07, 08:19 PM I have a few ideas, though some may be too cynical/uncreative to fit.

Encourage your players to be CG drow rangers, winged elves, and humans with dragon ancestors. Make the gods equally creative: Helios (LG God of the Sun), Hades (NE God of Death), Anarch (CN God of Irrationality), etc. Chaotic neutral should be synonymous with either insanity or CE.

Find some way to explain why:
a) There's tons of treasure lying around in the hands of weak monsters such as goblins who just kill farmers for a living (where does all the money come from?!)
b) All the treasure pumped into the economy by adventurers doesn't have any effect on it
c) Kings and nobles still rule the land even though the adventurers are the ones who actually keep people safe

Everyone gets a Bag of Holding, Type Infinity since nobody actually pays attention to how much people are carrying anyway.

All dwarves are drunk blacksmiths; all gnomes are obnoxious alchemists. Only humans are boring farmers, yet somehow everyone stays well-fed. Elves live in trees and prance around all day yet have spectacular magic and art. The majority of drow have turned good because it's fashionable this year.

Hope one or two of those sparks your interest.
Darth Syntax
09-21-07, 08:19 PM As a variation on the Princess and Dragon theme, consider the following:

Princess Matilda (or whoever) is engaged to be married to the Grand Duke Alphonso, a nice enough fellow but decidedly dull and dimwitted. So, she decides to elope with her one true love, a scholarly and highly entertaining dragon. Now, she tells no one of her real plans and when she is discovered to be missing along with the tell tale signs of a draconic presence, the Grand Duke assumes the worst and hires a renowned group of mercenaries (our intrepid heroes) to rescuse the princess from the horrible fate that no dount awaits her at the hands, err claws, of the fiendish and no doubt ill mannered dragon.
Darth Syntax
09-21-07, 08:31 PM Find some way to explain why:
a) There's tons of treasure lying around in the hands of weak monsters such as goblins who just kill farmers for a living (where does all the money come from?!)

Clearly the goblins are far better organized than they let on and they invest what little capital they gain from raiding farmers into lucrative business ventures which allows them to amass the wealth they always seem to keep about.

b) All the treasure pumped into the economy by adventurers doesn't have any effect on it

Again, it's the goblins. Their hidden financial empire is such a drain on the physical economy that all the nations of the world are constantly having to sell off their treasure to maintain solvency. Thus the goblins have even more treasure to horde.

c) Kings and nobles still rule the land even though the adventurers are the ones who actually keep people safe

Once again the answer is clearly to be found with the goblins. They know that should the adventurers gain any real power their days of prudent investing and diversified portfolios are done for and none of them will be able to retire to a nice house in the country, near the golf course. So the goblins, being a clever sort, prop up the nobility and insure the status quo is maintained, thus allowing them to amass further wealth and go on their merry way.
RabidPirateMan
09-21-07, 09:49 PM As a variation on the Princess and Dragon theme, consider the following:

Princess Matilda (or whoever) is engaged to be married to the Grand Duke Alphonso, a nice enough fellow but decidedly dull and dimwitted. So, she decides to elope with her one true love, a scholarly and highly entertaining dragon. Now, she tells no one of her real plans and when she is discovered to be missing along with the tell tale signs of a draconic presence, the Grand Duke assumes the worst and hires a renowned group of mercenaries (our intrepid heroes) to rescuse the princess from the horrible fate that no dount awaits her at the hands, err claws, of the fiendish and no doubt ill mannered dragon.

I had an idea of how to start the adventure. This is more a stab at online dnd games, but whatever.

Everyone is from the same town of Virtueville, located in the country of Peese. They are good boys, renowned across the small town, with humble farmers as fathers and friendly cooks as mothers. On one night, the village has a celebration dinner for the ancient celebration of We-Sure-Hope-No-Evil-Army-Comes-To-Kill-Our-Small-Villagearon, a day that marks the night in which the village had no deaths by invaders, no hideous plague and no meteor storms smashing into people. Everyone gets drunk and goes to sleep.

Then, when they wake up, AN INCREDIBLY LARGE ARMY OF EVIL CREATURES ARE ATTACKING THE VILLAGE. They do so because of a prophecy of a old tale about a wizard who predicted that there would be an ancient myth in which would be told the story of a group of adventurers growing up in a small town that would defeat the evil army that invades it.

Now, these guys are destroying everything. Men, women and children are being slaughtered in the street, houses are being burnt, the church is blown up, and several people pour salt on the farm lands while others begin to till it into the soil. Everything is destroyed.

So, the adventuring party must first become strong combatants by slaying wolves, bats and the never ending supply of bandits that live in the woods until the king, Sir Lord Kingstinton, hires them to slay the evil dragon who has captured the princess.

Good start?
taradusis
09-21-07, 11:33 PM LORD MALAGAUNTS OTHER THRONE-The richest guy in the world has his magic toilet stolen.Made from platinum and studded with jewels.Fills the air with a sweet perfume.Anyone who uses it suffers no gastro-intestinal distress.All mess put into it disappears.Automatically cleans your buttocks when your done.Everybody wants the toilet,police,other criminals,spies,dingbats ,picture that old movie its a mad,mad,mad,mad,mad world.when everybody catches up tp the toilet it breaks and an elemental made from all the stuff that's been deposited attacks everyone because of the ######treatment it's gotten.
d24478667
09-22-07, 03:04 PM Aww... I don't want to be damned.
SilvercatMoonpaw
09-23-07, 03:56 PM Certain webcomics are good for this:
Order of the Stick
8-bit Theater
Nodwick
Castlevania RPG

Variations on the classic themes:
A dragon hires a group of adventurers to rescue the princess from her overbearing parents.
A core race is harassing a savage race (i.e. goblins, gnolls, trolls, etc.) for non-good reasons.
A prophecy that turns out to be wrong has to be propped up.
An important person hires the PCs to do his/her job while they go off and have fun (but the job turns out to need the PCs' in the end).

Webcomics and recent experiences have taught me that the comedy of something comes not from really making the situation of the adventure any different but simply emphasizing it's outlandishness and/or pointing out details of mundanity.
Danahan
09-24-07, 10:19 AM Here's a link to one of my threads where we are currently compiling a netbook for humorous material. Unfortunately, all we have so far are magic items. Feel free to take a look:

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=814901
taradusis
10-02-07, 06:50 PM Imagine the gnomes are being run by DR Evil/mini me.They come up with a telekinetic device that can carve the moon into a new shape.Mini-me gnome demands that the crown heads of the world pay him a million-billion-zillion GP or he carves the moon into a giant set of buttocks,gives a whole new meaning to being mooned?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
RabidPirateMan 09-21-07, 06:53 PM	Im trying to make a campaign that, at its root, is just a big satire of every DnD adventure ever made. I'm currently in a group that has played for quite a long time, and they've played in enough campaigns to know all of the usual pitfalls of an adventure. For example, I've created a dungeon that tries to explain an old question: how is there a giant room with swinging trap blades in every corner of this orc cave and why would they put it here? How would dumb orcs create such a masterwork of technology and architecture? Well, as it turns out, on the southern shore of the island continent is a large dungeon. Long ago, a group of Illumian wizards had an idea to rake in some serious gold. They strung up a deal with a tribe of kobolds and began renovating an old mine into an open house of trap rooms. An evil lich or dragon or orcish chief would come on down, speak with a salesman, and they would walk through the trap rooms to see which deadly pitfall would best suit their ancient castle, or whether swinging pendulums or arrow slits would match the carpet better. Of course, there are plenty of add ons for each room- magic runes, self resetting, an auto-clean function for those messy moments after, feng shui energy rebalancing, etc. So, any other ideas for a corny adventure?
Return of the Flumph 09-21-07, 07:01 PM	A dragon is trying to kidnap a princess. It will be awesome.
d24478667 09-21-07, 07:25 PM	Or better, a princess trying to kidnap a dragon.
Return of the Flumph 09-21-07, 07:46 PM	Or better, a princess trying to kidnap a dragon. DAMN YOU FROSTBITE I JUST THOUGHT OF THAT!!!!!
queenfange 09-21-07, 08:19 PM	I have a few ideas, though some may be too cynical/uncreative to fit. Encourage your players to be CG drow rangers, winged elves, and humans with dragon ancestors. Make the gods equally creative: Helios (LG God of the Sun), Hades (NE God of Death), Anarch (CN God of Irrationality), etc. Chaotic neutral should be synonymous with either insanity or CE. Find some way to explain why: a) There's tons of treasure lying around in the hands of weak monsters such as goblins who just kill farmers for a living (where does all the money come from?!) b) All the treasure pumped into the economy by adventurers doesn't have any effect on it c) Kings and nobles still rule the land even though the adventurers are the ones who actually keep people safe Everyone gets a Bag of Holding, Type Infinity since nobody actually pays attention to how much people are carrying anyway. All dwarves are drunk blacksmiths; all gnomes are obnoxious alchemists. Only humans are boring farmers, yet somehow everyone stays well-fed. Elves live in trees and prance around all day yet have spectacular magic and art. The majority of drow have turned good because it's fashionable this year. Hope one or two of those sparks your interest.
Darth Syntax 09-21-07, 08:19 PM	As a variation on the Princess and Dragon theme, consider the following: Princess Matilda (or whoever) is engaged to be married to the Grand Duke Alphonso, a nice enough fellow but decidedly dull and dimwitted. So, she decides to elope with her one true love, a scholarly and highly entertaining dragon. Now, she tells no one of her real plans and when she is discovered to be missing along with the tell tale signs of a draconic presence, the Grand Duke assumes the worst and hires a renowned group of mercenaries (our intrepid heroes) to rescuse the princess from the horrible fate that no dount awaits her at the hands, err claws, of the fiendish and no doubt ill mannered dragon.
Darth Syntax 09-21-07, 08:31 PM	Find some way to explain why: a) There's tons of treasure lying around in the hands of weak monsters such as goblins who just kill farmers for a living (where does all the money come from?!) Clearly the goblins are far better organized than they let on and they invest what little capital they gain from raiding farmers into lucrative business ventures which allows them to amass the wealth they always seem to keep about. b) All the treasure pumped into the economy by adventurers doesn't have any effect on it Again, it's the goblins. Their hidden financial empire is such a drain on the physical economy that all the nations of the world are constantly having to sell off their treasure to maintain solvency. Thus the goblins have even more treasure to horde. c) Kings and nobles still rule the land even though the adventurers are the ones who actually keep people safe Once again the answer is clearly to be found with the goblins. They know that should the adventurers gain any real power their days of prudent investing and diversified portfolios are done for and none of them will be able to retire to a nice house in the country, near the golf course. So the goblins, being a clever sort, prop up the nobility and insure the status quo is maintained, thus allowing them to amass further wealth and go on their merry way.
RabidPirateMan 09-21-07, 09:49 PM	As a variation on the Princess and Dragon theme, consider the following: Princess Matilda (or whoever) is engaged to be married to the Grand Duke Alphonso, a nice enough fellow but decidedly dull and dimwitted. So, she decides to elope with her one true love, a scholarly and highly entertaining dragon. Now, she tells no one of her real plans and when she is discovered to be missing along with the tell tale signs of a draconic presence, the Grand Duke assumes the worst and hires a renowned group of mercenaries (our intrepid heroes) to rescuse the princess from the horrible fate that no dount awaits her at the hands, err claws, of the fiendish and no doubt ill mannered dragon. I had an idea of how to start the adventure. This is more a stab at online dnd games, but whatever. Everyone is from the same town of Virtueville, located in the country of Peese. They are good boys, renowned across the small town, with humble farmers as fathers and friendly cooks as mothers. On one night, the village has a celebration dinner for the ancient celebration of We-Sure-Hope-No-Evil-Army-Comes-To-Kill-Our-Small-Villagearon, a day that marks the night in which the village had no deaths by invaders, no hideous plague and no meteor storms smashing into people. Everyone gets drunk and goes to sleep. Then, when they wake up, AN INCREDIBLY LARGE ARMY OF EVIL CREATURES ARE ATTACKING THE VILLAGE. They do so because of a prophecy of a old tale about a wizard who predicted that there would be an ancient myth in which would be told the story of a group of adventurers growing up in a small town that would defeat the evil army that invades it. Now, these guys are destroying everything. Men, women and children are being slaughtered in the street, houses are being burnt, the church is blown up, and several people pour salt on the farm lands while others begin to till it into the soil. Everything is destroyed. So, the adventuring party must first become strong combatants by slaying wolves, bats and the never ending supply of bandits that live in the woods until the king, Sir Lord Kingstinton, hires them to slay the evil dragon who has captured the princess. Good start?
taradusis 09-21-07, 11:33 PM	LORD MALAGAUNTS OTHER THRONE-The richest guy in the world has his magic toilet stolen.Made from platinum and studded with jewels.Fills the air with a sweet perfume.Anyone who uses it suffers no gastro-intestinal distress.All mess put into it disappears.Automatically cleans your buttocks when your done.Everybody wants the toilet,police,other criminals,spies,dingbats ,picture that old movie its a mad,mad,mad,mad,mad world.when everybody catches up tp the toilet it breaks and an elemental made from all the stuff that's been deposited attacks everyone because of the ######treatment it's gotten.
d24478667 09-22-07, 03:04 PM	Aww... I don't want to be damned.
SilvercatMoonpaw 09-23-07, 03:56 PM	Certain webcomics are good for this: Order of the Stick 8-bit Theater Nodwick Castlevania RPG Variations on the classic themes: A dragon hires a group of adventurers to rescue the princess from her overbearing parents. A core race is harassing a savage race (i.e. goblins, gnolls, trolls, etc.) for non-good reasons. A prophecy that turns out to be wrong has to be propped up. An important person hires the PCs to do his/her job while they go off and have fun (but the job turns out to need the PCs' in the end). Webcomics and recent experiences have taught me that the comedy of something comes not from really making the situation of the adventure any different but simply emphasizing it's outlandishness and/or pointing out details of mundanity.
Danahan 09-24-07, 10:19 AM	Here's a link to one of my threads where we are currently compiling a netbook for humorous material. Unfortunately, all we have so far are magic items. Feel free to take a look: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=814901
taradusis 10-02-07, 06:50 PM	Imagine the gnomes are being run by DR Evil/mini me.They come up with a telekinetic device that can carve the moon into a new shape.Mini-me gnome demands that the crown heads of the world pay him a million-billion-zillion GP or he carves the moon into a giant set of buttocks,gives a whole new meaning to being mooned?