I’m a relatively new DM and I’ve only run two campaigns, one being a prebuilt adventure, and the other a hombrew that I put a little too much lore into. Like many new DM’s I decided I wanted to make a dark and dreary homebrew world that had my players shaking nervously in their seats. One rule that I absolutely adored was “if the entire party died, there would be no replacements”. The world would continue without them, and the forces of chaos would win. So let’s set the scene. The party is traveling from a dwarf trade town to an old dwarven outpost that’s under seige from a monsterous host. The five day journey was “supposed” to be easy, if a bit fast paced. However, on the third day the sky opened and unleashed it’s fury on the party in the form of a terrible lighting storm & after finding shelter in a cave the party began to hear the baying of wolves. Setting camp and keepin watch, the bard set the alarm spell at the mouth of the cave & sure enough, just as the shift was changeing, the alarm sounded. Elemental beasts known as storm fangs were creaping into the cave! Rushing to battle, the party made short work of the lightning infused wolves, and quickly set more permanent defensed outside to keep any others from crawling in. By the next morning the rain had stopped and the party was well on their way, often seeing evidence of these strange elementals along their path. Soon the jolly banter had picked back up, and the party began singing and playing songs right up until the storms came back. This time, without a good defensible position, the party elected to run. Hoping to make a straight shot to the dwarven outpost, they ran through the night, all while elemental wolves nipped at their heels and tried to surround them. Eventually, suffering from exhaustion & significant bloodloss, they crashed through the open gates of a dwarven outpost, and found safety. After a day of resting and healing they began work fortifying the outpost, talking to generals, healing the wounded, and gathering allies, but it wasn’t until an elven party suggestted someone go scouting that they left the fort. Scouting to the North the party followed tracks that went up the side of a mountain and into a boulder field where they were caught off guard by goblins raining arrows from boulders on high, and to their immediate left another small host of goblins began the charge from a small plateu. This is where things get interesting. The rouge decided that she was going to throw a bead of force at the goblins above them, at about the same time the wizard sent a fireball arcing up the slope, and the warlock was sending eldritch blast up the hill. Both the eldritch blast and the bead of force fell short, while the fireball was placed behind the boulders. Now, since we’re all logically inclined individuals, if you cause an explosion on the side of a mountain covered with boulders of all sizes, tell me, where should one not be standning? You guessed it, below the boulders. The bard was the only one who made this logical connectioon and ran very quickly down the hill. So, trying to find a way to save my from getting mashed into a large stain under 1000 metric tons of rocks, I rolled a percentage die with some DC’s to see what would happen. I rolled an 11. Boulders began rolling down the hill picking up momentum, the players have moments to react, “what do you do?”. The wizard and the warlock decide they are going to misty step above the rock slide. No easy task, and my I remind you that there was a flat plateu about 15ft to the left, but regardless they try. Since this was a relatively large boulder-avalanche, they would need to time it perfectly, neither did. The rouge, apparently deciding more explosives would be the solution, threw another bead of force at the boulders, hoping to blast them away from her. She also requested to roll the Rule Of Cool die. For those that don’t play with this awesome homebrew, essentially, once per session each player may ask to roll the rule of cool die and, on success, do something really cool and bend the rules a little. However, if you fail, the consequences are greater than they would normally be. I’m always exited for the rule of cool so I eagerly said yes. We pull out the metal D20, I tell her what the DC is and she rolls. . . a Nat 1. As she pulled another bead of force out of her pouch, the rocks under her feet began to move, and she droped all 10 beads. On impact each bead deals 5d4 force damage and creates a sphere of force that lasts for 1 minute that nothing can enter or exit save for breathable air. That is, at minimum, 50 points of force damage, while on average thats around 125 points of damage. Slipping and stumbling down the hill, the bard turns and watches the rouge become a red mist contained inside a sphere of force. Above the rouge, the bard sees both the wizard and the warlock dissapear in a cloud of magic, the wizard does not reappear. The warlock does though, and for a brief moment seems as if they will be alright. That is until they notice the boulder above them still rolling down the hill. One failed dex save later, and the warlocks screams are lost in the roar of falling boulders. The bard, distracted by the loss of 3 more friends, doesn’t even see the boulder that sealed the fate of the world. In the end, no giant monster, swarm of homebrew elementals, or evil lich was ever strong enough to kill my party. It took mother nature herself to step in, and when she did my party never stood a chance.
[zombify_post]
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