Common Cliche Campaign Concepts in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

Monty moves his eyes a lot I've noticed. That man is telepathically operating the cameras by the sheer power of his mind alone.

The cult needs the Rod of Seven Parts in order to summon the Evil Overlord who brings about the Age of Darkness, and when that succeeds it becomes a Post-Apocalypse run by an Anti-Magic Inquisition

I love the comparison between X-Men and the Anti-Magic culture. Got me thinking about upcoming campaigns. Personally, my favorite trope is the extinct ancient power. A civilization long past that had magic or technology way beyond what now exists, and these artifacts and knowledge are there to be discovered from ruins and what have you.

I love how you both critically assess the clichés and offer creative tweaks and alternatives to them. Also, thanks for not making me feel so bad about using them, lol.

You guys honestly have some of the best D&D content on YouTube. There are channels with more dense information/recommendations or more wildly creative entertainment value, but nobody quite strikes that balance of being informative and personable you guys have found playing off each other. Thanks, Dudes!

1. Every one of these videos have me smiling, stating "Oh, like __ in Dungeons of Drakenheim!" 2. Clichés help 2 other ways: a) Simplicity. You don't have to spend exposition on concepts people are already familiar with. b) A chance to right wrongs. Like Monty said, they might be aware, but if they don't enjoy that premise, as long as the DM is aware of their hang-ups, the premise can be used for the player to write the wrongs. (Ex, saving a princess locked in a dungeon might turn around that she is a badass who had herself captured to find where the Chancellor has been taking her people)

The "Age of Darkness" cliche reminds me of the observation someone made about Final Fantasy: "None of this shit would have happened if you just stayed in bed."

I love the "rod of 7 parts" trope, and I probably would have no issue playing a linear game like that. That said, I think one of the best changes to that trope I've seen is in Matthew Reillys '7 Ancient Wonders'. The party knows they are starting out at a disadvantage, and all they want is one piece of the artefact to have a say in the potential apocalypse. Almost every piece is a race, a battle, or impossible. But there is hope that the next one they might get, and they have to keep trying.

23:00 to 24:00 Some additional ideas: One piece is secured by a denizen of a swamp, say a Troll shaman. The piece powers its foul magic to some how alter the behaviour and physical attributes of nearby Treants, Axebeaks, etc. Another piece is locked inside a formidable citadel. The PC’s are encouraged (by an NPC) to employ a heist style strategy to retrieve it. Another could be held by a powerful curse. The curse needs to be broken in order to access it. As always great content dudes!

Man, these dudes sure know a lot about dungeons. As someone who is running a "Rod of 7 Parts" style campaign right now, I 100% agree on your take. I've personally made it so every item is located in its own unique area/comes up in its own unique way. On top of that, I have a different villain NPC chasing that item who has their own unique set of abilities AND even have the player's backstories linked in some way to a particular item that they themselves don't even know about. It's helped the party (and myself, the DM) stay interested in how the party achieves their goals since how that's accomplished is usually widely different each and every time. Awesome video, my Canadian brethren!

for somebody who is still putting together her first campaign, this is both extremely helpful and reassuring at the same time. and big compliments to the editor: the cuts are very well done!

The whole anti-magic Inquisition thing where you mentioned "a 10% chance of summoning a demon" as being an argument against magic made me think... Maybe 40K would disagree 😂

Am I the only one who misses the old "sword swipe scene changes"?

Doing a campaign now where the "rod of 7 parts" is a series of portals unlocked by various arcane keys. It's helping keep the structure of the campaign flexible because it allows many combinations of unlocked gateways to eventually reach the BBEG.

The advice of using one cliche premise to transfer to another cliche premise for an interesting combo. I'm going to use it for the camp I'm writing for my upcoming sessions.

I was affraid my anti-magic organisation was cliché but i'm reassured now. Thank you for the content you share with us. Cheers !

Once again, the Dungeon Dudes release a video that is scarily apt for where I'm at with running my homebrew game- seriously this is like the 6th time, it's like you guys know what's going on in my brain and provide the perfect source of help haha

I am so in sync with Monty's Walking Dead mini rant/tangent. :)

"Is magic bad or good?" Is exactly the campaign I'm running right now! This video was a garden of ideas, thank you!

The way I did the "Summoned Evil God" was I made it a prophesy that kept reoccurring. The cult and the PCs were racing to thwart or fulfill the inevitable fight, until the absolute last fight.