#campaign idea

Your crew isn’t as sinister as some of the others. Technically, your main source of income is barely illegal at all. Being the promoters, repair team, and handlers for a Hull racing driver is fine! It’s just that A. Your racing Hull was stolen and B. The crew member with the skills to win the races is banned from competing.

We’re playing A Knight’s Tale! You could make it a similar class issue (in Doskvol, only nobles are allowed to use the enhanced racing Hulls) or a gender issue, if you want to lean into the old-timey feel of the setting. Defy the oppressive system and let everyone risk their lives in ghost powered deathmobiles! Or maybe it’s this specific driver or Hull that’s been singled out? After crashing into the commissioner of the Doskvol Motor League, your driver can only compete in disguise…

SITUATION In an alternate history where time travel has been invented, a cabal of time-traveling traders and politicians are engaged in intertemporal arbitrage, using their future knowledge to corner markets throughout history. They've recently set their sights on the oyster trade of 19th century New York City, hoping to use their advanced refrigeration tech and insider info to make a killing. But their actions are destabilizing the timeline and threatening to erase key historical figures from existence. The party must unravel this temporal trade network and confront the mysterious mastermind behind it all before irreparable damage is done to the space-time continuum.

SETTING The adventure spans multiple eras, but key events occur in:

New York City, 1842 - The booming oyster trade has made the city the oyster capital of the world. Oyster cellars line Canal Street, shucking a staggering 700 million oysters a year. The docks bustle with oystermen.

The Far Future Oyster Vaults of Neo-Nassau, 2891 AD - Towering refrigerated vaults hold trillions of perfectly preserved bivalves. Chrono-barges zip through pneumatic tubes overhead. Neon-lit canals crisscross the city.

The Temporal Trade Hub, Outside Time - A mind-bending nexus where past, present and future intersect. Causality-defying architecture shifts like a kaleidoscope. Traders haggle over price fluctuations yet to occur.

CAST

Crassus Rockefeller III - Robber baron, mastermind behind the Oyster Futures Syndicate. Seeks to monopolize history's oyster supply. Wields a Causality Anchor that stabilizes him in spacetime.

Vivian "Viv" Wellfleet - Rogue chrono-trader with a heart of gold. Wants to stop Crassus and restore the timeline. Former collegiate oyster shucking champion.

Shucker Jim - Grizzled 19th century oysterman. Secretly an undercover Chronoguard agent. Rocket harpoon prosthetic arm. Loyal but haunted by a tragic past.

The Muculent Sibyl - Prophetic oyster-human hybrid from an alternate timeline where oysters evolved sapience. Whispers maddening future-truths. Chained in Crassus' vault.

Ostreida, the Oyster Goddess - Eldritch bivalve deity worshipped by a future oyster-cult. Seeks to flood Earth's history, returning it to a primordial sea.

The Chronoguard - Temporal law enforcement. Hardened time-cops in chromed exo-suits. Seek to stop illegal intertemporal trade by any means necessary.

The Oystermen's Union - Tough New York oyster workers, their livelihoods threatened by future sabotage. Burly, bearded, and brawny. Know the oyster beds like the back of their callused hands.

INITIAL CONDITIONS The 19th century oyster trade is booming, but prices have started fluctuating wildly and oyster shortages loom due to temporal meddling. Anachronistic tech has been found in oyster beds. Strange future-cultists lurk in oyster cellars, preaching the coming of an Oyster God. The Chronoguard has dispatched agents to 1842 to investigate, but Crassus' syndicate has a head start and deep pockets. The timeline is already fraying at the edges - historic oyster-lovers like Queen Victoria are fading from existence. The players arrive in old New York to find a temporal powder keg ready to blow.

GOALS

Crassus Rockefeller III - Corner the oyster market across all of history, making trillions. Ascend to economic godhood.

Vivian "Viv" Wellfleet - Stop Crassus, restore the original timeline, save the future. Maybe shuck some oysters along the way.

Shucker Jim - Complete his mission, avenge his partner, keep the space-time continuum safe from rogue traders and their greed.

The Muculent Sibyl - Escape her imprisonment, reveal cosmic truths, bring about the Oyster Singularity her visions foretell.

Ostreida, the Oyster Goddess - Flood Earth's history, make the world a oyster's paradise. Destroy upstart humanity.

The Chronoguard - Arrest Crassus and his cronies, stop the temporal trade in its tracks, preserve the integrity of the timeline.

The Oystermen's Union - Protect their way of life, drive out strange future interlopers, keep oyster prices stable and bellies full.

TOOLS/RESOURCES

Crassus Rockefeller III - Vast wealth, future tech, Causality Anchor, bribed officials across eras, oyster futures contracts.

Vivian "Viv" Wellfleet - Heirloom chrono-compass, knack for disguise, knowledge of oyster lore, her trusty quantum-shucking knife.

Shucker Jim - Rocket harpoon arm, Chronoguard combat training, 19th century street smarts, loyal oystermen contacts.

The Muculent Sibyl - Precognition, psychic whispers, eldritch oyster magic, fanatical mollusk-hybrid cultists.

Ostreida, the Oyster Goddess - Divine bivalve powers, oyster monster hordes, tidal magic, beachhead temples across history.

The Chronoguard - Jurisdiction across spacetime, stun-harpoons, chrono-cuffs, hardened exo-suits, orbital trawler-ships.

The Oystermen's Union - Strength in numbers, intricate knowledge of oyster beds, sturdy oyster boats, shucking solidarity.

SAMPLE SOLUTIONS

Infiltrate Crassus' syndicate posing as fellow traders, destabilize his operations from within while searching for evidence of his crimes. Coordinate with Chronoguard to arrest him in a dramatic sting.

Rally the Oystermen's Union to sabotage future tech and resist the Syndicate's strong-arm tactics. Stage a general strike to force the city to crack down on rogue traders.

Beat Crassus at his own game by cornering the oyster market first. Flood the market with your own supply via time travel, tanking prices and ruining his monopoly.

Cut a deal with Ostreida, brokering a compromise where oysters and humans can coexist across history. Use her power to threaten Crassus into surrendering.

campaign premise: dnd party is captured by a cult serving an entity that must be fed resources.There are multiple cults that feed these entities and each entity is based around a deadly sin.

- Pride is fueled by sermons praising the entity.

- Wrath is fueled by gladiator to the death battles in the name of the entity.

- Greed is fed material wealth,

- Gluttony is fed flesh/animal sacrifice,

- Envy is fed human sacrifice of people in the cult that the other cult members envy (this is only when they run out of beautiful human sacrifices from outside of the cult).

- Lust is fed sacrifices young virgins.

- Sloth puts a whole town into sleep. It technically has a cult that tried to wake it but they were all put into comas upon waking it, as the entity makes people fall asleep when within a nice certain radius/range of it, with any awake people on the outer layer becoming apathetic and uncaring.

Hook/outline idea

A new fungus threatens all life in the underdark zombifying its host on death and attacking others. One drow outpost and a Myconid village has already fallen to this strange new fungus with fears others will be next. The warring cities of the underdark have formed a truce and put together teams to discover the truth and end the danger for all (perfect for players who want mixed team with drow, dwarves, duergars, deep gnomes, myconid, mindflayer, koboulds, goblins, orcs, shades, vampires, surface explorers etc)

Infection happens on death or if players hit a low hp point and fails a roll. Maybe players are already infected as in bg3. If alive but infected it’s a race against time to find a cure or defeat the boss.

Root cause ideas

Natural phenomena. Evolving fungus or changing environment grew this type and it’s up to the players to understand it and find an antidote.

Natural discovery someone delved too deep in fungus caves and found something that should not be let loose. Find clever ways to contain or block the cavern. find immune monster that can eat the fungus and lure it to the spot. Etc etc find a cure for those already infected.

Evil wizard. Classic storm the tower. Wizard has been experimenting with necromancy and Myconid spores from captured victims to create a way to control all life the underdark with plans to attack the surface. Players must follow the trial to this threat, where they are located, create an antidote or destroy the wizard/item they are using for the magic.

Friggin’ Lolth Despite ordering her priestesses into the truce to undercover the threat. It was Lolths plot all along. By creating the truce she hopes this will help spread her webshroom spores to all cities in the underdark giving her more control over the many cities outside of Menzoberranzan. Players must find clues of her involvement and how to stop it (same as evil wizard). Lolthian sworn players discover the threat that Lolth plans to use the fungus to completely remove free will in her cities too, including them. ‘Everything dies and when it does it will serve me completely’

Evil god or demon. same as above but it’s not Lolth. Fight their cult members hidden throughout the many cities or caves. Destroy the altars fight the avatar. Find an antidote or make holy relic to stop or better fight them. Make city unity the saving element. Moral dilemmas

Locations and ideas

rescue backstory linked characters from infected outposts or cities. Undercover clues of how to cure or find the root cause.

Zombie hosts aren’t just attacking or spreading spores. They’re doing other strange things. Stalk and observe

Defend an outpost or village from the zombie spiders and other creatures

if it’s evil wizards. Track down where the disappeared Myconid went

for evil god. help clerics discover which god is causing this by tracking down artifacts or items with clues held by cultists or hidden away in infected cities.

visit allied cities for the first time. Role play how your character reacts or changes opinions. Side quests and fun

ingredient/item hunt. Certain items or ingredients need to be gathered in different dangerous or different locations the players must visit. Bribe and fight and charm their way to getting them. Diplomacy is an option too. Find ways underdark cities can build trust or truces. Forests, lakes, lost cities, living cities, surface

Cure ingredients are on the surface but they’re not willing to share it with those from the underdark. Raid or diplomacy your way to getting them