I love how these are like a small module on themselves. Thanks for the upload! That being said, I'd love to see your take on the classic trope of the "devil at the crossroards". I have been toying with the idea, since even if the players outwit the devil that still means a recurring antagonist for all upcoming sessions.
I am a late comer to your videos but I'm loving them. I've used this jungle encounter and expounded on it. My party is 3 sessions in and haven't made it out yet. 😂. The party is lvl 7 so I built out the man eating plant encounter. It included bushes and trees waking up and a couple wood woads. It was quite the challenge. Then I added a gnome village side quest prior to them meeting the kenku. At the river crossing I added two huge crocodiles and a huge snake. In the shrine they encountered two gelatinous cubes and two mummies before finally reaching the Yuanti group. So far so good!
More ideas riffing on yours: Warning stone encounter - the stone is old and written in an unknown and possibly ancient language. What if its warnings are partially or even wholly outdated, going back to before the area was entirely overgrown and different threats lurked nearby? Getting the players looking for one thing but facing another is a little mean, but giving them a hint that the stone may be less than reliable by having them stumble across the bones of a creature it mentioned ("Beware the Cyclopean Queen, last of her kind!" followed by finding a cyclops skull) will balance it out some. Carnivorous plant - if you want to hint at future necromancy, there might be animated skeletons (humanoid, animal, or both) nearby that fight alongside the plant if the party seems to be resisting effectively. If an creature actually gets devoured they'll wait for the plant to spit out the bones and then carry them back to their master's lair as nicely-cleaned raw material for more of their kind. The original necromancer may be long gone and there may be a huge pile of bones there waiting, or this operation may still be a going concern. You could even add an earlier encounter with a couple of skeletons lugging the bones of a jungle animal (maybe a panther?) back to base, as the plant just got done digesting the meat on them shortly before. See if they solve what that's all about. Kenku village - assuming a peaceful encounter, the kenku might be anxious to trade for metal tools and weapons to mak etheir lives easier. Perhaps they offer one of their own as a guide in exchange, or maybe they have something valuable to the PCs but more common to these environs - amber with exotic creatures suspended in it, or some rare herb or drug? Diseased river - unless the PCs are wholly lacking in survival skills they really should know better than to fall for this. OTOH, if they've dragged along any pack animals keeping them away from the water may take some doing. Or alternately, maybe teh animals are the ones who shy away, warning a truly idiotic party. Perhaps they need to pause here and filter or otherwise purify water for supplies to continue - but water sources attract predators, and maybe teh native wildlife is immune to the disease. A kenku guide might not even realize the PCs can't drink safely, but will they believe that if they sicken and can only communicate by pantomime? Crossing the river - again, your players would need to be truly dumb or poorly equipped to risk this. Even barring magic they are in a jungle and should have tools or weapons capable of cutting down a tree to make an improvised bridge. Of course, that's loud and slow and what did I say about predators near water earlier? Lost bard - well, maybe he can communicate with the kenku if they're still a potential factor? The universal language of music and all that? At least he probably won't get the whole party in trouble by botching a seduction attempt - one hopes. Insect swarms - Not really a comment on the encounter idea, but I remain amazed that 5th edition thinks insects are resistant to bludgeoning damage. WotC headquarters has apparently never heard of flyswatters (for flyers) or good sturdy boots (for crawlers). Hey, maybe that's what the kenku could trade them for some metal tools & weapons. Big fly whisk, does 1d12+Dex mod versus insect swarms. Insect repellent ointment, tiny and swarms of tiny insect creatures suffer -4 to attack rolls made against you. Bet some player will still balk at swapping a hand ax for one of those, so here's your chance to make them regret it.
Some encounters I would have definitely included involve a herd of hadrosaurs which might stampede if the party is not stealthy a tyrannosaurus pair wandering through the jungle and an abandoned village which has become a deinonychus den and they can open doors so if the players decide to rest they may find themselves in a very jurassic park situation dinosaurs make everything more fun
@@TheCuriousOwlbear Here is what you do, while it is winter, prune branches off of apple trees, chop them up, and store them to dry until next harvest. Next harvest, from the same tree, use the applies to make pie. Rather then sugar use the purest of honey from a field of flowers from the same herbs used to brew health potions. Now here is where the apple wood comes in. Smoke the pies, with the wood from the same tree. Give this a try and tell me how it comes out. The plan is to invite the fairy dragons to my lair for a party celebrating the big victory after which I will have learned a sizeshift spell, and with their help, create a new generation of dragon, raising the offspring to bring good to the balance of the world. I will admit this does sound pretty one sided. Well, 2 out of 3 sides really. But what exactly would I be able to have the players get out of this? I mean sure the party will be great... I got it, when the Copper Dragon Fairy Dragon hybrids hatch, they can help me raise them. Aka have an OP companion for the rest of their lives.
@@TheCuriousOwlbear You know the great thing about Fairy Dragons is that if you throw a party for them that includes mating with them they will literally just see that as the best part of the party. But you do NOT do that without giving them their fill of sugary baked goods. Because that would be rude.
I agree. These are great videos. Very well written and produced with no fluff. Have given me some great ideas for the mini-campaign I am doing with my daughter...
I love how these are like a small module on themselves. Thanks for the upload!
That being said, I'd love to see your take on the classic trope of the "devil at the crossroards". I have been toying with the idea, since even if the players outwit the devil that still means a recurring antagonist for all upcoming sessions.
That sounds like a great idea! I look forward to the challenge
@@TheCuriousOwlbear glad to hear that!
You are among my favorite encounter/scenario creators. Stay awesome.
challenges the bard to a fiddle play off and offers a golden fiddle against the bards soul
Love this format of video - great encounter brainstorming
Glad you enjoyed it!
I am a late comer to your videos but I'm loving them. I've used this jungle encounter and expounded on it. My party is 3 sessions in and haven't made it out yet. 😂. The party is lvl 7 so I built out the man eating plant encounter. It included bushes and trees waking up and a couple wood woads. It was quite the challenge. Then I added a gnome village side quest prior to them meeting the kenku.
At the river crossing I added two huge crocodiles and a huge snake.
In the shrine they encountered two gelatinous cubes and two mummies before finally reaching the Yuanti group. So far so good!
More ideas riffing on yours:
Warning stone encounter - the stone is old and written in an unknown and possibly ancient language. What if its warnings are partially or even wholly outdated, going back to before the area was entirely overgrown and different threats lurked nearby? Getting the players looking for one thing but facing another is a little mean, but giving them a hint that the stone may be less than reliable by having them stumble across the bones of a creature it mentioned ("Beware the Cyclopean Queen, last of her kind!" followed by finding a cyclops skull) will balance it out some.
Carnivorous plant - if you want to hint at future necromancy, there might be animated skeletons (humanoid, animal, or both) nearby that fight alongside the plant if the party seems to be resisting effectively. If an creature actually gets devoured they'll wait for the plant to spit out the bones and then carry them back to their master's lair as nicely-cleaned raw material for more of their kind. The original necromancer may be long gone and there may be a huge pile of bones there waiting, or this operation may still be a going concern. You could even add an earlier encounter with a couple of skeletons lugging the bones of a jungle animal (maybe a panther?) back to base, as the plant just got done digesting the meat on them shortly before. See if they solve what that's all about.
Kenku village - assuming a peaceful encounter, the kenku might be anxious to trade for metal tools and weapons to mak etheir lives easier. Perhaps they offer one of their own as a guide in exchange, or maybe they have something valuable to the PCs but more common to these environs - amber with exotic creatures suspended in it, or some rare herb or drug?
Diseased river - unless the PCs are wholly lacking in survival skills they really should know better than to fall for this. OTOH, if they've dragged along any pack animals keeping them away from the water may take some doing. Or alternately, maybe teh animals are the ones who shy away, warning a truly idiotic party. Perhaps they need to pause here and filter or otherwise purify water for supplies to continue - but water sources attract predators, and maybe teh native wildlife is immune to the disease. A kenku guide might not even realize the PCs can't drink safely, but will they believe that if they sicken and can only communicate by pantomime?
Crossing the river - again, your players would need to be truly dumb or poorly equipped to risk this. Even barring magic they are in a jungle and should have tools or weapons capable of cutting down a tree to make an improvised bridge. Of course, that's loud and slow and what did I say about predators near water earlier?
Lost bard - well, maybe he can communicate with the kenku if they're still a potential factor? The universal language of music and all that? At least he probably won't get the whole party in trouble by botching a seduction attempt - one hopes.
Insect swarms - Not really a comment on the encounter idea, but I remain amazed that 5th edition thinks insects are resistant to bludgeoning damage. WotC headquarters has apparently never heard of flyswatters (for flyers) or good sturdy boots (for crawlers). Hey, maybe that's what the kenku could trade them for some metal tools & weapons. Big fly whisk, does 1d12+Dex mod versus insect swarms. Insect repellent ointment, tiny and swarms of tiny insect creatures suffer -4 to attack rolls made against you. Bet some player will still balk at swapping a hand ax for one of those, so here's your chance to make them regret it.
Keep it up! :)
Absolutely love that I stumbled upon this channel. Love the ideas
This was excellent, thanks brother!
Some encounters I would have definitely included involve
a herd of hadrosaurs which might stampede if the party is not stealthy
a tyrannosaurus pair wandering through the jungle
and an abandoned village which has become a deinonychus den and they can open doors so if the players decide to rest they may find themselves in a very jurassic park situation
dinosaurs make everything more fun
One of the often occurring friendly encounters you could end up facing are Fairy Dragons. I plan to bring them a very special treat :)
Is it a special treat for the Faerie Dragons or for the players? :P
@@TheCuriousOwlbear Here is what you do, while it is winter, prune branches off of apple trees, chop them up, and store them to dry until next harvest. Next harvest, from the same tree, use the applies to make pie. Rather then sugar use the purest of honey from a field of flowers from the same herbs used to brew health potions. Now here is where the apple wood comes in. Smoke the pies, with the wood from the same tree.
Give this a try and tell me how it comes out. The plan is to invite the fairy dragons to my lair for a party celebrating the big victory after which I will have learned a sizeshift spell, and with their help, create a new generation of dragon, raising the offspring to bring good to the balance of the world.
I will admit this does sound pretty one sided. Well, 2 out of 3 sides really. But what exactly would I be able to have the players get out of this? I mean sure the party will be great...
I got it, when the Copper Dragon Fairy Dragon hybrids hatch, they can help me raise them. Aka have an OP companion for the rest of their lives.
@@TheCuriousOwlbear You know the great thing about Fairy Dragons is that if you throw a party for them that includes mating with them they will literally just see that as the best part of the party.
But you do NOT do that without giving them their fill of sugary baked goods. Because that would be rude.
Really appreciating your videos, especially this one as my ongoing campaign is a jungle exploration in Chult!
Great to hear that my videos are of use! Good luck to your adventurers - Chult can be quite a dangerous place!
Great video, some cool ideas that get your imagination going!
Nice work on the video!
This is amazing. Thanks for the inspiration! Also, dope shirt. I have that one!
You have good taste!
bro this is so fantastic and inspiring ty
Glad you enjoyed it! Good luck in your games
I agree. These are great videos. Very well written and produced with no fluff. Have given me some great ideas for the mini-campaign I am doing with my daughter...
Awesome! Glad to help and I'm happy to hear that we'll have another adventurer soon
so much fun in such a small video :)
Tremendously well done, thanks for all the effort you put into these. I’m so glad I found your videos keep up your phantasmagorical work!!!
Thank you for the kind words! I'll continue doing my best :)
Your already awesome but would be more awesome if you did some more jungle encounter videos.
You said inspiration comes from game of thrones and ...
The legends of synthorios? I'm sure that's not how to spell that...
(nm, sothorios. found it)