#mc:tna

#4 - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (2018)

The plot: Your band of novice adventurers start in a tavern. They end up mired a grand mystical conspiracy with the potential of staggering profits and accidentally acquire a haunted inn (wraith of a former proprietor; not clear on the former part, aggravated about the utter state of their dusty ale taps) along the way. Their haunted inn can have a demon-tiger private investigator as a next-door neighbor if you want.

What I love: It’s set in a city! There’s multiple plot elements that involve scheming / schmoozing / sleuthing / diplomacy/guile -- pretty much everything beyond hacking your way through monster guts. The villains -- co-written by Mathew Mercer, of critical role fame-- are complex and top-notch.

Fav Part? - Most commentary I’ve read on this adventure calls out the Cassalanter’s storyline (it’s good!) I love the (vague to avoid spoilers) Winter Mage and Jarlaxle with his carnival and magical submersible (what?)

Fanfic? - Anything that pairs well with the “they’re secretly hiding from a life of adventure / coffee shop / bureaucratic job!” meet-cute tropes. In my head, most recently: Supernatural (retired!Dean/post-Empty human!Cas retire to the coast’s most bucolic vacation city, only to realize their ‘charming historic bed&breakfast’ ...isn’t). Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung; Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty; and I think Persona V would be interesting (you’d have to AU the gang or smoosh Waterdeep into Tokyo?) I also think Loki (2021) [Loki & Mobius case fic!] or an alt-take on Final Fantasy VII’s SHINRA [the Turks! 😎] would fit. 

#3 - Key of Destiny adventure path (2004-2006)

The plot: uhhh. It’s...a lot. This was a set of three adventures written for the Dragonlance campaign setting that starts your adventurers out in a fairly tropy fantasy frontier city and goes everywhere from ruined civilizations to theatre in the round with a cursed dragon to dinner repartee to a romantic obsession at the end of the world. Also, the first book is 175 pages long and the last one is 365 pages and covers nearly a year of in-game time, Y-I-K-E-S. The adventurers start out trying to cure a town of its mysterious plague, only to slowly uncover that they’re taking part in a divinely-fated story that began a thousand years ago.

What I love: This adventure has a little bit of everything. Drama, humor, romance, time-travel...it’s all there. I love the haunted temple of Hurim, the redemption of the dragons, and the cursed dinner party.

What I’d change: ‘What if high fantasy, but too much?!’ At best, only some could be adapted, and I’d give the more stereotyping parts a miss. The shattered kender make me sad. 🙃

Fanfic? - Any fandom that can handle drama & ‘epic quests’-- The Untamed; Star Wars (Rogue One AU/’everyone lives’ or a Republic-era AU plot with Anikin and Obi-Wan); and I don’t really go there, but I think The Lost Tomb would be neat too.

#2 - Tomb of Annihilation (2017)

The plot: Look, if I try, we’re gonna be here all day. You start out racing dinosaurs. Then you get hired to fix a death-plague. Depending on how well your party chooses their wilderness guide, you either successfully find the ruins where the plague can be stopped, or you don’t, but you probably end up doing something that results in your commanding an army of zombies or becoming a zombie dragon, or both. If you head in the right direction, you can take part in a “hidden heir to the throne” situation too. I think there are aliens or intraplanar beings in there somewhere. And so on.

What I’d change: Again, too big to fit all of it in, and I heard it was nigh-impossible for most groups to finish the final tomb, so that’d get dialed back.

Fanfic? - The Lost Tomb (obviously, lol); The Mummy (1999); Inception (no, seriously-- think about it); Alice in Borderland; The Order of Moon Reflected in Pure Water (but I am not cool enough to write for this, 😆); Stargate(s); any fandom where having a pair (or group) of characters in a tough, deadly situation with some humor and high stakes would be interesting.

#1 - Red Hand of Doom (2006)

The plot: This is sooo cringy, oh man, I’m so sorry... 😅 Your group of adventurers stumbles upon a peaceful, idyllic valley for...reasons. Only things aren’t as quiet as they seem. Over the course of the next few days, as your group scrounges up work, you slowly come to realize the valley is on the brink of war, and they are not going to be winning. Maybe your party can turn the tide...or maybe the best you can do is save as many as you can along the way. It all depends on how fast you can act, how good your choices are, and how much the people you meet trust you and each other.

What I love: This adventure has a timeline, and stakes. If your party tries to linger over petty concerns (let’s stay an extra night to loot!), or make a big stand when you’re not ready, you will get overrun. I also like the feeling of ‘hard choices bound by relationships’ this story gives out-- your heroes can’t fix things by attacking head-on...so what are you going to do?

What I’d change: The base plot is great, but the background could be so much better if it let go of ‘Ye Olde Fantasy’ a bit more. Instead of vaguely Roman-esque ancient ruins and monstrous antagonists, I’d lean into the colonialist underpinning: the valley-dwellers are settlers from the dominant culture, and not the first to live in those lands. Maybe the invaders know something the colonizers don’t, but there’s old pain between the two groups. Maybe some of the valley-folk sympathize with those who were pushed back into the mountains and are pushing back. Maybe the threat isn’t what the dynasty leaders tell your heroes it is at the beginning, or maybe they hear two different versions and have to decide who to believe?