Ideas for a Jumanji Campaign

[Lemmy]

Hello, everyone!

So... Recently a friend of mine and I watched Jumanji (the classic Robin Williams one) and she mentioned that it could make for a cool game and we ended up discussing if it'd make for a good D&D campaign.

We ended concluding that it could make for a good one-shot adventure or short campaign (4~6 sessions at most), since the movie is little more than a group of low-level characters going through a series of random encounters and environmental hazards.

It could make for an enjoyable short low-level campaign... And it could include more than just bigget versions of African animals. Even if we restrict it to jungle-related challenges, there's a lot of cool beasts, hazards and monsters to add on top of the ones seen in the movie.

What do you think? Have you ever done a game like this? How would you go about this? Any suggestions, criticisms, warnings or insights?

Let me know!

Cheers!

[Zhorn]

If any game was deserving of including a Deck of Many Things, this would be the one, with Donjon and Void being treated as the equivalent of 'in the jungle you must wait until the dice read 5 or 8'.
Repurposing a Deck of Illusions would also serve as a good way to randomise encounters, or using the encounter tables out of Tomb of Annihilation.

[False God]

I think if you paired it up with the actual Jumanji game you could have a lot of fun with it. Each player rolls dice, sees how far they advance and what hazards the group encounters, and then fight through the encounters.

Sorta meta, but still.

[Hopeless]

Sort of like a Maze spell is cast upon them and they find themselves trapped until they can find or achieve the exit?

[Lemmy]

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

If any game was deserving of including a Deck of Many Things, this would be the one, with Donjon and Void being treated as the equivalent of 'in the jungle you must wait until the dice read 5 or 8'.
Repurposing a Deck of Illusions would also serve as a good way to randomise encounters, or using the encounter tables out of Tomb of Annihilation.

This is a really good idea... I'm actually looking forward to writing the cheesy rhimes that precede each encounter.

I think if you paired it up with the actual Jumanji game you could have a lot of fun with it. Each player rolls dice, sees how far they advance and what hazards the group encounters, and then fight through the encounters.

Sorta meta, but still.

Wait... What?

I think if you paired it up with the actual Jumanji game you could have a lot of fun with it.

Do... Do they sell actual magical boardgames somewhere? I don't think my insurance covers Rhino stampedes.

Sort of like a Maze spell is cast upon them and they find themselves trapped until they can find or achieve the exit?

I was thinking of making it more like the first movie, where the game transforms the environment and summons the animals/enemies.

[VonKaiserstein]

Well, not exactly magical, but there is a mundane board game version of it. My boys and I found it at five below, surprisingly cooperative gameplay. You have to save each other from the dangers of the jungle by rolling special d8s.

Creating encounters for each card in the deck would not be difficult, and would make for a great con game or one shot! I love this idea.

[False God]

Wait... What?

Do... Do they sell actual magical boardgames somewhere? I don't think my insurance covers Rhino stampedes.

LOL, no there's an actual mundane board game. You don't need to use it's resolution mechanic since you'd be using D&D to resolve the "encounters" the game presents.

[Lemmy]

Well, not exactly magical, but there is a mundane board game version of it. My boys and I found it at five below, surprisingly cooperative gameplay. You have to save each other from the dangers of the jungle by rolling special d8s.

Creating encounters for each card in the deck would not be difficult, and would make for a great con game or one shot! I love this idea.

LOL, no there's an actual mundane board game. You don't need to use it's resolution mechanic since you'd be using D&D to resolve the "encounters" the game presents.

Ah... I see. I should have known they'd make a boardgame based on the movie (or was the movie based on an existing game?).
I guess it just never arrived where I live and I never thought about it probably because I was 7~8 years old when the movie came out).

I don't think I'd be able to track down an actual copy of the game... But perhaps I can find more information about it and its rulea online.

[VonKaiserstein]

Amazon's got you covered if you're that eager to own a copy of it.

If you don't mind waiting a week or two, I'd expect it to be released in targets and walmarts very shortly, to raise the hype for Jumanji- The Next Level's December release.

[Lentrax]

Yeah, they reprinted it a couple of years ago, so it shouldn't be too hard to get ahold of a copy.