Dungeons & Dragons is a land of opportunity to create unforgettable adventures shared by friends and family, where immersion and cooperative storytelling act as an adrenaline injection into the heart of the imagination. Like any well-crafted story, D&D uses traditional plot devices to propel the party forward.
Villains threatening the lives of innocents, calls to adventure by desperate nobles, and the chance for gold and glory are some of the most common plot devices in any fantasy RPG. However, some physical objects can serve as a way to give players a way to engage with the story in more subtle but important ways.
Keys
Keys are often underused in D&D, usually placed on a guard's body to help players open cages or cells, but can be a spring of opportunity if they are not placed anywhere near a lock. A key can act as a myriad of clues that guide players to endless possibilities, knowing that most locked objects contain treasure or danger.
A unique mysterious or complex key can also be the MacGuffin for the entire campaign, finding the location of a door or chest that will unlock something powerful or set something free. Where a key is found, who it ultimately belonged to, and what it's made of can also be threads for players to follow.
Lich's Soul Jar
Obtaining a Lich's Spirit Jar is like capturing the heart of Davy Jones, and clever players can use these to their advantage if they're feeling less than bloodthirsty. Perhaps forcing the necromancer to undo the damage it caused, or by requesting aid in a more deadly battle, the Spirit Jar is more than just a simple weak point.
This type of unique weakness exists in many forms in D&D, such as the Vampire's Coffin or the King's Rod of Rulership. Allowing players access to these items can be a unique way to overcome otherwise inaccessible threats in creative ways without having to defeat the big bad first.
Map
While maps mechanically give players good survival rolls to find their way around, they are great sources of adventure that can contain all kinds of information if players look hard enough. Maps that were previously owned and have meanings hidden in the margins or notations, esp.
Scrolls marking locations and promising treasure serve as immediate goals for most players, creating their own paths and setting the pace for the journey. These preparations are all about trying to innovate in anticipation of danger and intrigue along the way.
Newspapers
Journals serve as a way for players to discover secrets and reveal the inner workings of whoever wrote them down and was foolish enough to leave it in the rogue's range. Journals are most useful when written by NPCs already familiar to the party, as their familiarity provides context for their juicy secrets.
These texts should contain disgusting or shocking information, as this prompts the journal to role-play and character decisions, and makes the quest more rewarding. They may also contain deceptive script or be written in code, thereby overcoming the new challenge of revealing its contents.
A wizard's spellbook found is an opportunity to include more information in addition to adding new spells.
Sacred Symbols
The gods and their followers hold great power in Faerun, and often in the dungeon master's home world, and can be either Heaven or Obstruction. Evidence of a person's worship and devotion to a specific god, such as a sacred symbol, allows players to gain access or trust where it would otherwise be very difficult.
It can also be an opportunity for players to play tricks, dress up as cultists and display false badges of loyalty to gain relatively safe access. Items like a writ of permission, a lord's signet ring or a guild token are all ways players can use artifacts to fast-track roleplay.
poison
Usually, when a player wants to defeat an enemy or eliminate a group of bandits in the forest, it is a violent clash with increasing arrows and slashing swords. Poison acts as a way to obscure damage or provide a delay that gives players a chance to escape from a dangerous location before damage is done.
It can also be used against the party, after being offered a potion by a mysterious patron who discovers that the bard is near death and is no longer found. Poison is more useful as a subtle act of violence when plotting and plotting, and should be given to players and NPCs who can best use it.
Making sure you include the occasional use of poison also causes spells like Detect Poison and Disease to be prepared.
Ration
When athletes are traveling in harsh conditions, consider finding food and managing malnutrition as important factors. Foraging for food in the wild or finding uneaten rations in frozen bodies suddenly becomes very valuable. Lack of available food adds risk to the journey which is usually not life or death.
Players can also find an animal dropped near a mushroom field, and have the chance to eat them despite the obvious indication that they may be poisonous, but are already at risk of exhaustion. Limited rations allow players to make choices that increase the stakes while giving them the opportunity to use their tools and resources to navigate it.
the boats
Any body of water without swimming speed is a giant void for player characters, usually safe or easy to take long trips around. Abandoned boats moored at the edge of the water are an invitation and a way to give players the ability to reach otherwise remote locations.
Boat trips, or barbarians rowing a small skiff, are excellent opportunities for monsters and pirates to take advantage of vulnerable prey. What players gain in freedom and speed, they lose the ability to escape easily, and introducing this option gives the party a unique option.
Large craft can also become a mobile base, a place to store weak NPCs or heavy loot, while still carrying it on their naval adventures.
- Original release date
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Year 1974
- Count the players
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2+
- Age recommendation
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12+ (although little ones can play and enjoy)
- Length per game
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60 minutes to an hour.
- Franchise Name
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Dungeons and Dragons
- Publication a
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Wizards of the Coast
