(3.5) Tropes of the Playground Campaign

[Deth Muncher]

So, this was just a little thought I had - what if I were to make a campaign based on the characters and tropes that occur on this here Playground? It's more for my lulz, since I only play with a few other Playgrounders IRL, but it would be amusing to think about. Such things that come to mind are:

-A Wizard who is very good at battlefield control.
-A similarly optimized Sorceror, with ranks in Craft: Snarkery.
-A Monk who specializes in UMD and has an Elhona's Quiver full of partially charged wands...
-All of this being set in a world with major cities being run by resetting magic traps to feed the masses and foster transportation, while having wilderness in between them.
-Beaches are plagued with strange crabs that at first look harmless, but are actually much stronger than they appear. Said crabs are led by a Paragon Psuedonatural crab, which has been stirring up trouble...
-Only one diety: Snuggles. YARN FOR THE YARN THRONE.
-Bananas are illegal.
-Puns are a form of non-lethal attack that sting so badly they'll make your hide raw.
-Mind Control spells don't exist. Or do they don't exist, citizen.

What else?

[Prodan]

War Weaver who abuses Streamers.

[Flickerdart]

Fistbeard Beardfist, Bear Bearington the Bearbarian, Haberdash the Masked and the Emerald Legion.

[Boci]

Court jesters exist: they are more commonly known as soulnkives and core monks who do not use UMD.

[Flickerdart]

Court jesters exist: they are more commonly known as soulnkives and core monks who do not use UMD.
Because all the UMD monks are long dead.

[Starbuck_II]

Samurais are feared or mocked depending on whether they use high crit weapons or not.
If they do: feared.

People joke that psionics needs more bat poo. :smallbiggrin:

[arguskos]

The Horizon Tripper needs to be in here somewhere, as does the teleporting flying fire breathing Tarrasque.

The Osmium Bomb is the world's super weapon.

[Irreverent Fool]

Don't forget the commoner that throws flaming chickens and the horror the common folk have of being pounced on by a housecat.

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[Deth Muncher]

Don't forget the commoner that throws flaming chickens.

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Likewise, the Chicken-Infested Commoner/Warlock with Greater Consumptive Field and the Corpsecrafting feats.

[Nero24200]

There should be two seperate mercenary organisations, one which only recruits fighters, the other only recruits warblades. Naturally, the warblades should continiously claim they are better...

[Irreverent Fool]

There should be two seperate mercenary organisations, one which only recruits fighters, the other only recruits warblades. Naturally, the warblades should continiously claim they are better...

Nobody has more than 2 fighter levels.

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[The Glyphstone]

There should be two seperate mercenary organisations, one which only recruits fighters, the other only recruits warblades. Naturally, the warblades should continiously claim they are better...

And follow up on this claim by continuously trumping the fighters every year in the annual Martial Melee Combatant Games (MMCGs).

[Nero24200]

Nobody has more than 2 fighter levels.

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The group doesn't need to recruit high level characters :P

[Weezer]

There is a small group of "scientists" that claim to know the rules underlying the universe and attempt strange experiments including lining commoners up and passing quarterstaves around. These never seem to amount to much besides the seemingly unconnected mass deaths of catgirls during spates of experimentation.

[The Glyphstone]

Dozens of out-dated laws, regulations, and royal decrees exist inflicting harsh penalties and lowered social status on anyone claiming psionic talent. No one has bothered to remove them from the kingdoms' law lists.

[Touchy]

The group doesn't need to recruit high level characters :P

It even shows the inexperience.

Also; Every spellcaster/psion is a 126 year old kobold who was born in a desert... A dragonwrought kobold.

[Moriato]

All buildings must be securly anchored to the ground with enchanted adamantine brackets to protect them from the quarter-hourly Locate City Bombs

Common lore holds that the world spins because on one side there's a hulking hurler trying to throw the world into the sun, and on the other side there's one trying to throw it out into space.

Common lore has nothing to say about bears

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Where the mention of the name 'Fluffy' brings stark terror...

Every time a Kobold mentions Pazuzu, The Powers That Be kill a kitten. Please, think of the kittens...

[Lycan 01]

Random commoners with railguns.

Mad scientists who blow up catgirls with every experiment, even if it wasn't needed.

Kobolds are an endangered species, partially due to genocides carried out to avert the birth of the fabled one known as "Pun Pun," who's birth was prophecised to bring about the end of the world.



Predatory Gazebos.

[Nidogg]

Peasants destroy nations by throwing a rock!

[Deca]

Totally Not-Evil Bob's Discount Orphan Smile Farm is a globe spanning franchise.

[AtopTheMountain]

There is at least one area filled with anthropomorphic bears who worship bears, ride bears, turn into bears, command bears, summon bears...

[BobVosh]

The arena is called Test of Spite.

Everyone kinda watches each other, but very few people speak. There are even those who watch all the time and never speak. (forums aren't as bad as IRC for this..but still kinda creepy if you thought of it as everyone in the same room)

All wizards would dress up as batman, or as god.

There would be some of the most incredibly powerful people in the world lamenting that they lost their familiar for everything else they gained.

Everyone would sadly pat anyone on the head who introduces himself as a samurai.

[Boci]

Many low level adventure hooks would involve slaying annoying casting who call forth long forgotten discussion and set them loose.

Trolls are't actually monsters, at least not by appearance and they rarely kill. But they are bloody annoying and hard to find since they display good diguise skills. Most adventurers do not bother with them and so they are numerous.

Would -nothing worth seeing here citizen, go back to your fun- be an inevitable (one of his abilities being able to identify a troll with just a brief glance)?

[quiet1mi]

Starving Trolls...

*thanks to perceptive playgrounders and Roland :smallsmile:

[Optimystik]

- Every wizard or sorcerer stole one of his master's 2nd-level spells during apprenticeship.

- Every cleric spends his formative years studying in the cloister, only to pray for massive muscles and grab a mace.

- All Wilders go to psionics class.

- Bards either dance, sing or rap. The dancing ones are peerless warriors, the singing ones cast spells on par with the sorcerers, and the rapping ones do so in Draconic.

- Commoners live in mortal fear of housecats.

- Dragons live in mortal fear of being touched.

[Irreverent Fool]

Every couple of months, a new batch of techniques are learned which in many cases make old techniques (be they martial, arcane, divine, or what-have-you) completely obsolete, much to the chagrin of veteran adventurers who watch the young upstarts become vastly more powerful far more quickly.

All elves spend the first couple hundred years of their lives farming and saving up gold, regardless of their actual path in later life. They make additional profit because only the rich eat naturally-grown food due to the widespread use of magical 'traps' that summon food as needed.

Humanoids sleep once in their entire lives.

Common healers, too poor to afford the services of a cleric, often revive dying people by dunking their heads in buckets of water.

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[Asheram]

Fairy rings are now known as railguns or "particle accelerators"

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Roland is a Superhero that constantly battles the scum of the intarwebz to keep his city safe.

[Doc Roc]

Elemental Weirds run the universe and prevent major gamebreaks from occurring.

[OracleofWuffing]

Entire cities of catgirls die every day. (They get better, though.)

There is no longer a coherent "family" structure. Since everyone becomes an adventurer, all characters are born and raised in a tavern to speed up the process.

All shops are known as "Magic Mart," despite offering anything and everything, there are at least four in any given town.

Dwarves do not receive blood transfusions, they just drink more alcohol.

Elves do not know their own gender.

Gnomes are jerks.

All girls must be at least as "hawt" as a succubus or nymph, and must wear less than one square foot of fabric/armor total for clothing.

Mindrape is not an [evil] spell, it is a way of life. Followers of deities are still on the fence of whether or not Sanctify the Wicked is [good] or [evil].

There is a global secret cult, the Cult of the Core, whose members only include characters that are built using the PHB, MM1, and DMG. They cannot be influenced by the actions of characters who do not follow this code.

Crusaders are forbidden from using 1d2 weapons, by penalty of torn character sheet. Last time that happened, the multiverse was stuck for a decade.

Temples do not have a high priest/ess, they have a Clericzilla.

The number that comes after three is three point five, and the number that comes after three point five is five. This concept of number four is only something someone made up when he was trying to make a game he could play with a lot of other people on his scrying orb.

[tyckspoon]

Astral Fire is the biggest thing going in entertainment. Every appearance of this group elicits excited squeals and Beatles-esque screams of adoration.

[Boci]

All girls must be at least as "hawt" as a succubus or nymph, and must wear less than one square foot of fabric/armor total for clothing.

To be fair I think there would be quite a big anti-movement of sensible armour.


There is a global secret cult, the Cult of the Core, whose members only include characters that are built using the PHB, MM1, and DMG. They cannot be influenced by the actions of characters who do not follow this code.

Well, we can't for their current character.

"Core hunting" is a bit of a gray area as far as morality goes. A small minority believe that it is a duty, others believe it should be allowed, whilst overs think it is a horrid practise that should be banned.

[gdiddy]

All parents have the right, guaranteed by law, that they can "reroll" children if they do not have at least one 18 stat.

Controversial artificial growth methods are in wide use among the Optimizer faction, called "Point Buy."

[OracleofWuffing]

Oh, and one more thing... There are no such things as doors. They have all been smashed, burned, corroded, blasted, shrunk, sold for gold, used as surfboards, used as bridges, shattered, split, pulverised, mauled, eaten, or otherwise. They are extinct.

[sofawall]

Astral Fire is the biggest thing going in entertainment. Every appearance of this group elicits excited squeals and Beatles-esque screams of adoration.

I'd almost forgotten that one.

[AtopTheMountain]

There is one known only as Roland, who travels the land smiting evildoers. If you break a rule, he will find you immediately, and never rests.

[PlzBreakMyCmpAn]

There is one known only as Roland, who travels the land smiting evildoers. If you break a rule, he will find you immediately, and never rests.breaking rule != evil

You mean smite 'non-lawful' :haley: not evil :xykon:

[The Dark Fiddler]

All elves are arrogant, pompous asses. Nobody likes them. Or Gnomes. Or Halflings.

Also, there are no Evil Drow left, only Chaotic Good Drow hoping to overcome the reputation of the Evil brethren, despite them not existing anymore.

[Deth Muncher]

There is one known only as Roland, who travels the land smiting evildoers. If you break a rule, he will find you immediately, and never rests.

He also knows everything, so I hear.

[The Glyphstone]

All pay homage to a mysterious, silent overdeity with no name, only a title of 'The Giant', who never speaks or grants spells to his followers.

[Greenish]

…who never … grants spells to his followers.Where are they coming from then? :smalleek:

[The Glyphstone]

Where are they coming from then? :smalleek:

Same place Ao's followers get spells in Faerun, I guess?

[Brendan]

behind adventurer and thief, the most common profession on the planet is 10 ft pole seller. ladders are in short supply.

[The Shadowmind]

Every warlock is on good terms with Naberius.
A person with seven levels of warmage doesn't exist.

[nedz]

Sorcerors are spontaneous casters.

[goken04]

Sorcerors are spontaneous casters.

But there is one wild-eyed hobo who stands on the street corner and insists that the issue is debatable.

And crab is a rare delicacy as there are few adventurers brave and strong enough to kill one.

[AtopTheMountain]

For most people, whenever they finish saying something, they immediately list off another group of phrases unique to each person. These phrases include lists of favorite quotes, directions to other places, and images.

[The Glyphstone]

For most people, whenever they finish saying something, they immediately list off another group of phrases unique to each person. These phrases include lists of favorite quotes, directions to other places, and images.

Exactly how they manage to list an image verbally is a mystery only those with vast ranks in Knowledge can figure out.:smallbiggrin:

[OracleofWuffing]

There are no kings, there is no president, no prime minister, no emperor, no czar, no any-kind-of-person-of-political leadership. The state of the government is also not an anarchy. Don't think about it too hard, nobody talks about politics anyways.

[goken04]

Every time you try to speak in public, ninjas appear and interrupt.

[The Shadowmind]

Exactly how they manage to list an image verbally is a mystery only those with vast ranks in Knowledge can figure out.:smallbiggrin:

Everyone has silent image as a At Will SLA.

[Roland St. Jude]

He also knows everything, so I hear.

Though that's almost certain a myth.

[Prodan]

The enemy should be an evil cabal of necromancers...

[Saintheart]

There is but one god, whose name is Pun-Pun, and the campaign exists only in the microsecond between his conceptualising how to become said god and becoming said god. After that, Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies.