Spicing Up Hoard Of The Dragon Queen

[JNAProductions]

*Wink wink nudge nudge*

So I periodically run, ahem, "adult" D&D. (Not on this forum obviously.) But doing so takes effort, and I've never been able to finish a campaign.

I do, however, own Hoard of the Dragon Queen. I know it's not the best module, but hey, it's a module, and therefore takes less effort.

Which means that I want to run Hoard of the Dragon Queen, adult style. Anyone have any ideas on how to spice it up to make it more adult?

Also, when posting here, please remember forum rules. I don't want anyone getting in trouble for a thread I started, so keep suggestions without too many details (or send via a PM or something).

Thanks in advance!

[MrStabby]

Other than people complaining about taxes and the cost of buying their children clothes? Some of the cultists could complain that they had better stats in 2nd edition?

[Gastronomie]

You need to specify what you mean by "adult".

Does it mean erotic? Or violent? I think you quit a PbP game (one that you created youself) once because it was "too dark fantasy" (despite the whole theme of the PbP game you requested being pretty much "dark fantasy"), so I don't really get what you mean by "adult D&D" here, but anyways.

If you mean "meant for oldschool fans", I can't help.

But if you mean "including lots of 18+ elements", I can try:

First, you need to understand that gore and sexual elements should never be the focus of the story. At least, assuming you want to make a good story. These eccentric elements should be only the "methods" of expressing an important (and often philosophical) theme.

Thus, the very idea of thinking "I want to make something gory" is... at least I don't like it. If that's what you were intending to create, I mean. Gore should be something that you throw into the story "later", because it was required, or because you felt it'd strengthen the theme of the story.

But anyways. If you want a violent and yet good story, you should first think up a particular "theme" for the story - one that will benefit from including exessive gore and/or sexual elements in the plot. I don't know if HotDQ, being a rather bland battle of "orthodox good v.s. orthodox evil" is the best campaign for that (Out of the Abyss or Curse of Strahd seem more suited for that stuff), but from here and then on, it's up to you how to cook it.

You will need to alter stuff, though. A lot.

[Falcon X]

Oh, this sounds sweet.
First off, he doesn't make it anymore "adult", but SlyFlourish has one of the best GM support and improvements sites for HotDQ: http://slyflourish.com/greenest_in_flames.html

A few ideas off the top of my head:

Episode 1: Greenest in Flames
- Go deeper into the economic reprecussions of this raid. Who knows, the adventurers might be able to help establish better trade to Greenest in chapter 4, or other such solution.
- Put the rape back in Rape and Pillage
- Some citizens might be more thankful than others ;)
- Make sure they get their eyes on the female Wearer of Purple who is leading the attack, and do give her a whip.

Episode 2: Spy Mission
- Can someone say "Nightly cult ritual"
- Tiamat's imagery around the camp should definitely play up her female aspect.
- Play up that Kobold vs. Human tension.

Episode 3: The Cave
- It gets lonely being an ugly half-dragon. That guys quarters should be littered with interesting things.
- The lurker in the dragon egg room wants more than food. It wants that hot female lurker you saw a ways back.

Episode 4: the caravan
This can be ANY kind of caravan or escort mission you want. Have them get hired by the someone transporting exotic dancers, a new line of adult toys, or other such things.
- Flesh out the caravan. In my game, I had a player trying to seduce Werond Torohar and the innocent but beautiful daughter of a family who was moving to Waterdeep.
- Lasfeiro the Silent: Put something really fun underneath his covered wagon.
- Roadside Hospitality: Definitely do this one. A couple of dopplegangers seduce your team members.
- High Holy Day (http://slyflourish.com/on_the_road_part_2.html): A deleted scene from the adventure where you mean a group of people committing self-harm.
- Fungus Humongous: Do I really need to tell you how to twist this?

[Falcon X]

Okay, finally able to get back and post some more ideas. Hopefully these will be a bit more thoughtful.

General Campaign notes:
- The simplest way to reflavor the whole game is to make the plot about more than just dragons. The archdevil Glasya, daughter of Asmodeus and queen of succubi would be a great option. (See Codex of Betrayal: Glasya (http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/graveyard/pdfs/34338430/images/1408810958009.pdf)) She has been one of the more ambitious devils lately and could easily be footing the bill and some extra soldiers to the declining Cult of the Dragon. Together, Glasya and Tiamat could do extraordinary things. You would see a lot more devils, and some of the Wearers of Purple would actually be Succubbi or Cambion.
If you add something like this and follow it through the Rise of Tiamat, you can make levels 15-20 about following the fight to Glasya and her secret goals in the whole project.
Also, if the players ever get captured, they could wake up in one of Glasya's dungeons and be forced to escape or make a deal. Definitely taking some ideas from Out of the Abyss here.

Episode 1: Greenest in Thrall
- Maybe instead of being pillaged by terror, it is being pillaged by seduction or hypnosis. When the players get there, everyone in town is walking around like zombies, or committing "interesting" acts. There are a few people resisting if you want to use the NPCs given to you in the book.
Perhaps the zombie humans are used as fodder to attack the keep (Sally Port) and you have to decide whether to kill the spellbound citizens or try to save them.
The wearer of purple lady could be a Cambion. This would make her more deadly, but would be fun thematically.
Save the temple... from desecration rather than destruction.
If the keep is somehow warded from this spellbinding effect, the dragon attack could be an attempt to break whatever the enchantment is. Perhaps the warding is from a crystal on the roof.

Episode 2: Spy Mission
- The leadership might be kind've lonely and bring in "entertainment". With basic scouting, the players would notice this and might be able to take the place of the entertainers. Maybe there is a wagon coming in with the entertainers that they could hijack and make the switch.
- If anyone gets captured, they should wake up near Leosin Erlanthar. They should DEFINITELY be tortured. This works even better if you make the wearer of purple lady a cambion or other such devil-human.
- Make the camp shaped like something interesting, as seen from above. If they scout around the outskirts, they should notice this.

Episode 7: the Hunting Lodge
- Perhaps instead of a hunting lodge, this is a small, isolated city where the queen rules over her subjects like a tyrant. I'll let you get creative with how she uses her subjects. She may or may not still be the wearer of purple, but she will still be allowing them to use her land as a waypoint. Same deal convincing her or killing her to do what you want.
- The book all but says that you can seduce the wearer of purple here. Make dat happen.
- People also get lonely in a hunting lodge. This cult could take one of THOSE turns here. Easy way to catch them with their pants down.
- How about a hunting trip with the residents?