D&D Ideas — Morality

Jareth the goblin king on his throne with a baby

D&D Ideas — Morality

August 9, 2023

Dungeons & Dragons/ Editorial/ Free Nerdy Things/ Game Master Tips

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is Morality, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hang out every Sunday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life, and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of morality in Albatross heroes are caught between insect ravagers and forest elves in a tense pursuit through treacherous terrain with an infant chieftain at stake.

Discover this and 54 other dynamic encounters ready to drop right into your games contained within Out of the Box: Encounters for Fifth Edition right here!

Delving Dave’s Dungeon

Morality can be such a great tool as a Dungeon Master in D&D. Sometimes the way to challenge your players has nothing to do with mechanics, but instead, the moral quandaries you pose them instead. Here are 10 ideas to challenge your players and their characters.

The Double-Edged Sword: A village is terrorized by a dragon who lives in a nearby cave. The villagers ask the adventurers to kill the beast. However, when they arrive at the cave, they discover that the dragon is the last of its kind, and killing it would mean the extinction of its species. They must decide what to prioritize: the safety of the villagers or the preservation of a species.
The Burdened Soul: The party encounters a ghost who is unable to move on due to a terrible sin they committed in their life. The ghost offers them a powerful magical artifact if they agree to perform a ritual that will cleanse their soul and allow them to move on. However, the ritual requires an innocent soul as a sacrifice. They must decide whether they are willing to make such a trade.
The Unseen Suffering: In the underground kingdom of the gnomes, the party discovers that the king uses enslaved trolls to mine gems, arguing that they would be violent if left free. The adventurers are asked to assist in defending the mines from a troll rebellion. Should they help uphold the gnomes’ prosperity or liberate the enslaved trolls?
The Trapped Fae: The party discovers a fairy trapped within a magical artifact in the possession of a corrupt noble. The noble is loved by his people and the artifact’s magic protects the kingdom. Freeing the fairy would mean the destruction of the artifact and the kingdom’s downfall.
The Sacred Grove: A natural disaster threatens to destroy a grove sacred to local druids. The only way to stop it involves tapping into dark magics that are anathema to the druid’s beliefs. The party must decide between preserving the grove and respecting religious boundaries.
The Ailing Monarch: The party encounters a beloved monarch on their deathbed, suffering from a debilitating curse. However, the next in line to the throne is a known tyrant, feared for his cruelty and malice. The monarch pleads with the party to find a cure for the curse, but saving the monarch’s life will inevitably lead to the rise of a cruel ruler once the monarch passes from natural causes. They must grapple with the decision of either maintaining the status quo by saving the monarch or potentially risking the kingdom’s future under the tyrant’s rule.
The Puppet Rebellion: In a city ruled by an oppressive wizard, the party meets a group of rebels planning to overthrow the ruler using an enchanted artifact. However, using it would mean turning the city’s citizens into puppets to achieve the rebellion’s goal. Will the party assist the rebels, even if it means manipulating innocent lives?
The Balanced Scale: A pair of twin cities are locked in a stalemate war. A prophecy states that only with the fall of one can there be peace. The party has the power to tip the balance, but which city should fall?
The Plagued Prison: The adventurers discover a prison where a deadly and contagious disease has broken out. The warden has quarantined the building, but left the prisoners, many of whom are non-violent criminals, to die. The party can save them, but risk spreading the disease.
The Martyr’s Choice: The party encounters a peaceful but endangered monster being attacked by an aggressive group of hunters. The monster has the power to wipe out the hunters but chooses not to, as it does not believe in violence. The party can help kill the hunters, defend the monster passively, or find another way out.

Spotlight

Dark Paths

Encounters with the Winter Lord

Transform the terrain into treacherous tests of terror with three scenarios ready to drop right into your Fifth Edition games. Each encounter illustrates the dark power and influence caused by beings of malediction infiltrating your campaign world. Challenge heroes in a unique way where surviving these perilous circumstances can set adventurers on a dark path to discovering terrible truths.

Ice Spires challenges 2nd level characters with a dangerous trap beset by horrid undead
Drop Ghouls plunges 4th level heroes into frigid danger and a race against time
Frozen Lake tests 5th level heroes with traversing treacherous terrain to end the emanations of evil
New Magic Items — Orb of Ice Spires and Spectral Lantern
New Monster — Drop Ghoul

Check out the Dark Paths: Encounters with the Winter Lord here

From Ted’s Head

Role-Playing Games typically mean the players get to be the heroes. Over the many years I have played in several evil games, rarely do they go well. I have played in games with all evil characters and often it devolves into some PVP and a non-completion of the story that we are working on. I have played in games where one or two characters are evil and with some trust from all the players we completed the story, sometimes with the evil characters being hauled off to prison or killed or sometimes the evil character wins.

Recently we started a game where we are playing in a post-apocalyptic world with the group being motorcycle riders. We are kind of a gang and settle a lot of our problems with combat, as happens in D&D. While I almost always play the hero, at times I play closer to the line of evil and chaos, greed and personal interest. In this latest session, Dave pushed our greedy impulses and put us in a situation where our group was attacking a cabin in the woods. As we cleared the guardians, a woman stepped out the door, begging us not to kill her baby. Through the open doorway, we could see the pile of treasure.

Ted as a player very much wanted the treasure knowing it is a game. But it became a turning moment for the character to really think about the actions we had done. When we had time, I called the group to have a conversation and it has changed the way the party has acted. It has changed to an almost hilarious level.

Our character’s morals when we play should be put to the test. In order for characters to have growth. If we are only ever presented with situations that we know the right thing to do, then we never fail, mourn and grow to new heights. Conflict needs to be more than just a physical fight or battle. We should be challenged in every way we can. Maybe not in every D&D campaign, but over our long games and over our careers of playing this wonderful game.

Morals are also something that can change. If we see the cop who does everything by the books for so long and things still go poorly and begins to take the law into his own hands. You have the criminal who turns their skill for the betterment of society. You should always be prepared to see how your character is going to grow over the course of a story or game.

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