Play Your Next 5E D&D Game in the Bag of Beans Magic Item Campaign

Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore crafting a magic item as a plot device leading to more fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure. During one of our weekly live chats Ted took inspiration from the bag of beans, a magic item that’s been part of D&D since the earliest days and even way back then advised Dungeon Masters how “thought, imagination and judgment are required with this item.” While researching the bag of beans further for this here post I came across a story shared by a player about this magic item’s tremendous impact on their very first 5E D&D campaign. Turns out campaigns and adventures across the history of D&D experienced the ups and downs of this kooky magic item. So let’s get into it and look at some first hand accounts of how the bag of beans affected some D&D players and give you some ideas for your own games.

Dungeons & Dragons and the Bag of Beans Campaign

No sense in burying the lead. Here’s a truly amazing story of how a forgotten bag of beans plundered from a defeated dragon’s hoard lead to a dark turn for one campaign and the inspiration for another with incredibly dramatic twists! Follow the discussion below the OP for more great stories too.

How A Bag Of Beans Changed Our Campaign, Completely from r/DnD

More crazy stories sprouting from D&D’s bag of beans

• Why you don’t give your party magic beans…
  • Sounds to me exactly why you DO give your party magic beans!
• Bag of Beans ruined what was suppose to be a calm session
  • These pyramids seem to pop up with alarming frequency. Did you read more about that dark turn? Mummy lords rule, y’all.
• A Cautionary (Awesome) Tale on the Bag of Beans
  • See what I mean?

5E D&D campaign magic items

We’ve touched on the idea of adventures and entire campaigns inspired by 5E D&D magic items… quite a bit! I consider myself something of a Nerdarchy archivist and if you dig the idea of magic items as plot devices and campaign inspiration here’s some resources to get you started.

• Bag of beans
  • The magic item in the spotlight, this one is right there in the Basic Rules free for anyone to drop right into their game. Go on. You know you want to.
• Dungeons & Dragons and the Deck of Many Things Campaign
  • The only thing more exciting the magic beans is magic cards am I right?
• Play Your Next 5E D&D Campaign as a Pod Person in an Adventure Simulator
  • Admittedly this is related only in a meta sense and if I’m honest I want you to go read it
• Wand of wonder
  • This magic item is but a mere tweak away from joining the beans and the deck in plot devicedom. Change it to “The GM can choose an effect from the following table, determine it randomly, or create an effect” and call it the wand of funder. You’re welcome, Dungeon Masters.
• Play Your Next 5E D&D Game With Immersive Magic Items
  • What happens when those cool magic items pull you into ancient nightmares while you sleep? Adventure time!
• Wage Secret Chest Wars with Classic Spells in Your Next 5E D&D Game
  • One wizard’s magical storage space is another civilization’s pollution

Your 5E D&D magic item stories

You have them. We want to hear them. How have magic items made a big splash in your D&D games? Let me guess — you planted a bean from the bag of beans and a pyramid erupted from the ground with a mummy lord inside. That’s awesome! Mummy lords rule. We recently started a Community Spotlight on our weekly Nerdarchy the Newsletter too and who knows, maybe your story will wind up there. We want to know what you’re up to around your gaming tables. Did you find inspiration from one of our videos, website posts or products? Let us know! Comment on this post, tag us on social media or send us a message and share your stories and images. We love making all sorts of content for you and we want to hear about your adventures too. Stay nerdy! [NERDITOR’S NOTE: You get a special coupon for $9.99 when you sign up for the newsletter too.]