MagiStream

I'm starting my very first campaign after years of playing 5e and I'm always looking for inspiration, what have been your favorite moments in d&d or any other ttrpg?

I've run DnD and various other RPGs for over a decade now.

My favorite moments have always been joking around the table with people and the sidebar conversations/jokes that happen as we play.

In terms of "in-game" moments: In a Call of Cthulhu campaign I ran, the players saved an artist from domination by a snake-person. While this wasn't related to their broader goal, it was an interesting sidetrack that took them on a bit of an adventure.

A few nights after the whole ordeal, one of the player characters went to the artist, requesting a particular kind of painting. In his time working with the snake-person, the artist had become wrought by dreams of unnatural horrors which he expressed in his art. One such vision the artist saw was of dread R'lyeh, the hidden island tomb of Cthulhu.

The player asked after that painting and communed with Cthulhu to learn a terrible secret about their true enemy (one of the other elder gods). It was stricken from the character's mind, and the player was told that he could ask any question from the GM about the game or anyone they encountered. He would learn the answer as a hidden secret that was buried away during his encounter with Cthulhu unraveled, gaining a key insight for the party at the cost of his character's sanity.

I love that! I'm an absolute sucker for personal spins and additions into pre-built modules. I never really got into Lovecraftian horror but I should really give CoC a go.

Reminds me of when our GM for Curse of Strahd introduced an NPC so seamlessly we assumed he was part of the module and we all loved him. After about 4 or 5 sessions the NPC betrays us, almost killing the party but we got revenge later on.
Almost immediately after the NPC's death the GM brought him back. the NPC claimed amnesia/mind control, and we almost fell for the exact same ploy a second time.

I played AD&D back in the 70s-80s when I was in college. I get the feeling that it was very unstructured compared to the modern games I hear about. I played mainly because it was a chance to get together with other STEM nerd students and have some beers and laughter. I really liked using my brain to get out of predicaments and that all the action took place in our heads and on paper with pencil and dice. I found it a nice creative outlet for my scientific brain to engage in. Haven't played since, 60-70 hour work weeks with stepchildren and then later elderly parents to care for kind of sucked up all my leisure time. Now I'm old and most people my age play shuffleboard and cribbage, not D&D. I'd really like to get back into it if I could find a group I fit in with. It's hard to socialize when your pop culture references are at least 30 years out of date.

I think my fav moment in our last campaign was when our barbarian - the least charismatic member of a party consisting of characters with a max int and charisma of 10 - pulled off a persuasion check with a nat 20 that convinced a bunch of monks that we definitely are not there to infiltrate their temple, we absolutely just are there to join their amazing cause. We got a guided tour and a meal before thwarting their evil plans xD

froglady wrote: ↑November 27th, 2023, 11:34:38 pm I played AD&D back in the 70s-80s when I was in college. I get the feeling that it was very unstructured compared to the modern games I hear about. I played mainly because it was a chance to get together with other STEM nerd students and have some beers and laughter. I really liked using my brain to get out of predicaments and that all the action took place in our heads and on paper with pencil and dice. I found it a nice creative outlet for my scientific brain to engage in. Haven't played since, 60-70 hour work weeks with stepchildren and then later elderly parents to care for kind of sucked up all my leisure time. Now I'm old and most people my age play shuffleboard and cribbage, not D&D. I'd really like to get back into it if I could find a group I fit in with. It's hard to socialize when your pop culture references are at least 30 years out of date.

I also play a number of games based on B/X and AD&D! Until recently, I ran a science-fantasy table (spells and laser-swords).

Some highlights from those adventures included:

A player retrieving an ancient sword by slaying a giant insect, then starting a cult worshipping the giant insect they had slain. (The sword, of course, passed down to each of their next characters whenever one met an untimely end. The party made a point of retrieving the sword)

The party having an encounter with an orange dragon in the southern jungles of their world. They didn't fare to well - they ran out of the jungle, down two members of their troupe, a giant orange lizard spitting liquid sodium chasing them...

Meeting a metallic "golem" that lived in a village of goblins. The "golem" forged them weapons from star metal they had found from a fallen meteorite. The goblins convinced one of the players to sell them the rights to all of the ground, which they then used to terrorize (tax) passing travelers.

Looting several tombs for all the copper/other metals and hauling that back to the village for profit.

I'm currently in the process of planning a game involving boats (to make use of the beautiful models from Arcane Minis, if nothing else).

I haven't decided if it will be a pirate lean or something else, but one idea I do want to play around with is the concept of a "Church of the Corpse God" - a church that worships the corpse of a dead god (that was slain by some other god, for instance). The idea has been floating in my head for a minute now and might end up a bastardization of 7th sea's world with a pseudo-Catholic "Church of the Corpse God".

fthr wrote: ↑November 28th, 2023, 9:52:41 am I'm currently in the process of planning a game involving boats (to make use of the beautiful models from Arcane Minis, if nothing else).

I haven't decided if it will be a pirate lean or something else, but one idea I do want to play around with is the concept of a "Church of the Corpse God" - a church that worships the corpse of a dead god (that was slain by some other god, for instance). The idea has been floating in my head for a minute now and might end up a bastardization of 7th sea's world with a pseudo-Catholic "Church of the Corpse God".

I read a lot of fantasy and I LOVE cult of a dead god concept, whether it's be killed by gods, mortals, or anything else. Or if it was already dead to begin with!

Munin wrote: ↑November 28th, 2023, 5:36:58 am I think my fav moment in our last campaign was when our barbarian - the least charismatic member of a party consisting of characters with a max int and charisma of 10 - pulled off a persuasion check with a nat 20 that convinced a bunch of monks that we definitely are not there to infiltrate their temple, we absolutely just are there to join their amazing cause. We got a guided tour and a meal before thwarting their evil plans xD

This is probably hands down my favorite kind of thing to happen in any ttrpg.
I'm working to establish with my players that the more inventive/out of the box/wild they are, as long as they have a rationale behind it, the rolls are in their favor.

I used to play Pathfinder for roughly ten years. My playgroup shunned anything new, so we stuck with a system we knew the rules of (or more like thought we knew). It was honestly not a group I enjoyed being in, but I didn't have any other options really. Neither was I really a fan of that system either, it's very combat focused just like DnD, when my favourite moments have been interactions with other players and NPCs. Growth- not in levels, but in character, is what I find the most enjoyable, and you should pick a system based on what fits, not what is popular. I have been on a search to find one that is to my liking, or even thought of creating my own, possibly frankensteining together mechanics from other games that I happened to like.