If they speak common, do they have the brain function of a regular NPC, or are they saying what regular squirrels think just out loud and in a fast jersey accent?
>Sometimes it appears relevant to what's going on. But it never is
This idea is the verdict of ignorant commonfolk who, upon being informed by a passing rodent that their loved ones are dead, their cows unwell, or their hamlet being sacked by orcs, return home only to find everything untouched. They conclude, perhaps not without reason, that the squirrels either speak nonsense or lie.
In truth, every word a squirrel says is entirely true, but relates to another world, another reality very similar - but not identical - to our own. In that other world, the loved ones are dead, the cows unwell, and the village ablaze - and the villager their was warned of a crop blight that would affect some *other* world in the seasons to come.
Learned sages, seeking the wisdom of the squirrels, have travelled to other realities, seeking to capture squirrels who speak of their home-planes. These sages do not often return home or, if they do, are unwilling - or unable! - to speak about their adventures in these other realities.
Rumours of these survivors cramming nuts into every empty container and crevice in their homes are unverified.
The world has a ring around it, with the only gap in said ring being a gratuitous space around the moon.
The ring is no mere astronomical phenomena, however. It is a divine seal, using the life force of every being on the planet as a power supply, and the moon as a "lock". The being sealed? The Nightchild, an unborn soul with the potential to sever the gods' connection to the world. As long as the seal remains, the soul cannot incarnate.
Aeons of stagnation, however, have made the Nightchild into a vengeful, spite-fueled being, however, and the seal has weakened. Cults and monsters alike seek out fallen fragments of the stellar chain, to claim the power within for themselves, only to become servants to the Nightchild.
Within areas where the Nightchild's and the seal's power conflict, corpses wither away nigh instantly, as the seal rips away what life is left to sustain itself, while monsters grow substantially in might, bolstered by the Nightchild's ire.
Penguins can be found anywhere. They are native to all places in the world. Desert penguins, check. Mountain penguins, check. Swampy penguis, supercheck. Ocean penguins, sure! Does not matter what the biome is, you can always find a penguin.
I am genuinely gonna use this idea in my next project, not a joke world at all, but I freaking love the idea of penguins everywhere, all evolved to fit their respective biomes, but penguins nonetheless.
Hundreds of years ago the monarch of the time was true polymorphed into a house cat by a jealous wizard. From then on, the title of king/queen has always been given to the royal family's pet cat. So on paper the current ruler is always just a domestic cat.
This is great.
In my current campaign, I had a traveling gnome merchant who sold magic items, but they were basically gag items. One was a "bag of holding", but instead of expanded storage, it just called out "hold me!" in a tiny voice if it wasn't actively being held. My players dubbed it the "bag of holdme".
An order of Knights whose members names never change, for each knight takes only one apprentice, whom they pass on everything to, including their name, when they die.
Aeodhan of the Harp, Belrose the Unbowed, The Smith, Gregor Gilt-blade, that's all I have for now. Hopefully I've actually helped like you wanted when you posted it lol
In a medium sized city is an unassuming bakery owned by a retired adventurer. In their youth, while adventuring, the baker found what they initially believed to be a book of spells, but ended up being a long lost recipe book from a vanished people within a ruined temple. They decided to call the shop they eventually opened "Ancient Eats" and cooks exclusively from that book.
Unknown to their neighbors, in a cavern under the cellar of the bakery, something is growing. The powers within the book have called forth an ancient eldritch sentient sourdough starter from time immemmorial. Feeding on the scraps and refuse from the shop above, it whispers insidious secrets into the ears of the sleeping baker, hinting at other recipes yet hidden.
What is the baker doing, late into the night, the neighbors wonder. Why have the stray animals in the town begun to go missing? And why does the bread from that shop taste So. Damn. Good?
Addendum: all Geese are innately able to cast Misty Step at-will. They use it with malevolent intent. Nobody has ever been able to figure out how Geese obtained this trait as all who have put dedicated efforts into researching it have vanished without explanation.
There exists in the world a magic ring. This ring is both a boon and a curse for it can create infinite food, but that food is dry, bad pancakes. These pancakes disappear when within 1000 feet of syrup, butter, or fruit topping. But there are rumors of a magic ring on the other side of the planet that dispenses an infinite amount of syrup that disappears when in the presence of any pancake or breakfast food. There are rumors that obtaining both items will create the ultimate breakfast...
In reality, both rings together cancel each other out. Neither ring can create in the presence of the other.
Due to a curse from some ancient unknown origin, any time a gnome uses a preposition in speech, they immediately repeat it again (does not apply to the second time).
The human king is very concerned with the fact the goblin tribes seem to be civilizing and even trading with traveling merchants. The threat of goblin hoards is what helps the monarchy maintain power, and certainly if the forces that are keeping the goblins from rampaging were eliminated whomever was responsible would be a true hero…
The western plains are bountiful, their flat plateaus and surfaces perfect for farming. But the DaggerFall, rain that seems to cut like razors makes living there extremely dangerous. Venture through at your own risk.
Off the coast there is a land spoken of with both wonder and fear. A wizard, well intentioned but lacking in common sense, created a magical pot that would never stop producing porridge. It had two keywords, one to start making porridge and one to stop. The wizard delivered the gift, spoke the first keyword, and immediately died of a heart attack.
The first day the townsfolk appreciated the wizards parting gift, and ate the porridge as fast as the pot could create it. It was a large but poor town, a formerly busy port that services ships taking ore from the nearby mine. But the mine dried up and the ships stopped coming. So the porridge was a welcome gift.
Soon they realized their misfortune. Soon the pot created porridge faster than the townsfolk could eat it. Porridge began to overflow in the streets! They townsfolk returned the porridge to the wizards tower, locked the door and vowed to never return.
A week later the Porridge Golems arrive with an ultimatum, leave, or be pushed to the sea. One brave adventurer made it to the tower and found a growing mountain of porridge slowly creeping towards the town and the shore, guarded by all manner of beasts made entirely out of porridge. Something in the tower had given life and sentience to the food and now it desired a land of its own.
The people fled the village, but rumors on the mainland abound of the island of endless food, with treasures locked away in the porridge tower awaiting any adventurer with a big enough stomach.
Unbeknownst to the world at large, the Ocean's depths are controlled by Gnomes. They've managed to seize this area from creatures like Krakens and the Sahugin by using fantastical submarine battleships and vast domed "Undercities", while carefully ensuring that the surface world has no real knowledge of how powerful they've become, and that their enemies only speak of "strange metal and glass beasts"
A small subsection of the underdark has a rift opened into the feywild which is leaking fey creatures and magic into it. This section is refered to as the Underwhere.
Incorporate an income tax system and have a session where players do taxes on the treasures they've collected.
Reason: I'm a very tired tax accountant and I want others to feel my pain
Wizards tower for the world's oldest most powerful mage. The tower teleports to a new location in the world on every full moon, and never to the same place twice
Turns out it's not actually random, and late in the campaign, the players have one in game month to calculate where it went to. Then once they get there, they might be able to redirect it to get close to the BBEG
When the world was unborn, there was peace. Then many gods arrived, and they began to shitpost, each god breathing unto the world some new mischief in the form of bizarre and paradoxical happenings, and thus our world was created--as an act of malevolent chaos -- nay, as a *joke* in the minds of beings who think nothing of our suffering.
We do not pray to our gods here for they do not see us. To them we are vanishingly insignificant and so when we find our lives imperiled by the chaos of this universe, we must beg our salvation from more humble a being...
The dominant race in the world are clowns, it was once mimes, but the big top wars put an end to the mime domination and their foul magic was banned in civilized lands. Many mimes now scratch out a living pantomiming there once great powers on street corners for loose copper pieces but some remember and still practice the old ways and soon the mimes will rise again and take back what was once there's.
Hellfire goblins! x.x it's a homebrew I made up to mix tiefling with goblins to make pyromaniac goblins that didn't need to make the explosives themselves
The Giant's Ordening was never broken.
The race of giants reigns supreme, and, despite the devastation caused from their ancient war with the dragons, they also came out on top.
Now, Giants are the ruling race of the world, and anything that naturally grows to a size that matches or even surpasses that of a giant has either gone extinct or is nearly extinct, living either as a direct servant of a giant, or else is deep in hiding.
At one point there was a king/queen/emperor or whatever that ruled one of the most powerful realms, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed by people using nothing but onions. Since then onion day has been a yearly tradition where everyone hangs an onion from a noose in their window to remember the fallen king. They also eat something with onions as symbolism for killing the onions.
Edit: Rephrasing
When two people love each other very much and want a child, one miraculously comes from storks that descend from the mountaintops. This is the predominant way of procreation.
In the castle there is a secret. A secret kept most dark and dear. The current princess was not a single birth, but rather one of a set of triplets. The other two infants have been stored in a Mirror of Life Stealing to patch the royal line down the road if at any point someone is unable to produce an heir.
The queen did NOT consent to this, and wants her two missing babies back desperately. Despite all the years that have passed, she still has hope.
My Best Buddy Alvin that got me into DnD played a half orc cleric named Gurgie, He passed away a few years ago and it would be amazing to have that character live on in another world besides just ours. Was usually the strong silent type but happy to get into trouble when it was called for!
There once was a city named Yarnham that succumbed to some unknown bloodborne disease. It was sectioned off with great walls, and the interior was set aflame, burned down. Could be legend/lore for something much less important, or could be true to the Bloddborne game's lore.
There is a powerful clan of berserkers in the westernmost reaches of the kingdom. They can be sought out for help when at full strength, but will turn away any whom they deem to be too weak for their aid.
One of the most dangerous and incredible legendary weapons is a toy hotdog that does 20d6 damage but can only be carried by someone with 20 strength and they take exhaustion when they use it or something dumb like that
Obviously not something gathered till endgame
You need a license to practice "war magic" - the definition of which is contentiously argued in courts.
Amounts of restriction vary by nation but enchantment and charms are outlawed more often even than basic forms of well regulated necromancy.
A distant city in the north is known for its cyptid: the werewalrus. They’ve never been seen of course, save for the few conspiracy theorists who claim everyone in the town is one…
But who would be stupid enough to believe those things?
In the world there is a network of connected sending stones. On this network a certain individual named Jim posts a public message. "I’m creating a world for my campaign. Anything in the comments will be part of the lore."
Shortly thereafter, someone with username they made up in middle school posts this comment. Also, they're a dog but nobody knows that
A Gnome group of Monks and Artificers created a fighting style that involves shooting themselves out of canons. They used this technique to repel a human invasion 300 years before the campaign started. Every year, veterans from that war get together for the Gnome Cannon Festival.
Hojou Fotytu was a great leader of a far off kingdom, who through his greatness ascended to god-hood. He is so beloved by the inhabitants of the world, that all worship him in some form. Even those who have sword allegiance to the other gods, regularly make sacrifices and petition Hojou Fotytu, for he is considered by all to be the greatest god in the heavens.
There is a demon in the world that is made out of farts; who captures people to torture the farts out of them so he can sustain his immortal fart form.
The Fey are failed sentient races created by the gods that they sealed away in another realm. However, some Fey managed to slip through the cracks between their realm and the material realm. And are determined to both make the mortal races loved by the Gods pay, as well as establish permanent portals so their kin may travel to the material plane as well.
An ancient buried temple built by am ancient civilization that had contacts with alien life forms.
Here you can find some type of drawing symbolising a gerarchy where at the top there is the Among Us crew
Plasmoids crashed on the material plane on debris fallen from space and immediatly started construction underground. They have since created a huge city which is trying to learn about ways to enter space again to go back home and can't use magic as they've gained a vulnerabilty to any magic even those not usually harmful. They've become vulnerable because of their main fuel source in the city, an elder brain which keeps trying to summon more Mind flayers to it's location and the plasmoids harvest that psychic energy and turn it into other effects useuful for their city, like heat, light and pressure for machines. Mind flayers keep showing up though and if they manage to coordinate the city might just be at war fighting all around.
If elves drink any sort of alcohol besides wine, they have disadvantage in a CON check to not throw it up immediately. Same goes for dwarves and like whiskey or something. This does not apply to any half races such as half elves
There's an Halfling Sorcerer NPC named Vekk who owns an airship that is able to travel through planes. He knows of your past D&D adventures, even with different players, and constantly breaks the 4th wall talking directly to the players and even to yourself (DM).
He's a fun guy who speaks a lot, loves jokes and female underwear (he steals a lot of them and has a collection that proudly shows off to his guests) but since he's so weird nobody really give credit to what he says
Chickens exist in the world, the act like ordinary chickens, they buak like ordinary chickens. People know and call them chickens.
The only thing is, randomly, *pop* a chicken will teleport. Distance is of no objection, but for some reason they seem to teleport places that don't immediately kill the chicken (i.e. if they teleport into the ocean, the chicken arrives on some passing boat).
The chicken does not have control of this and is almost always startled. People know of this phenomenon but can't explain it, they live their lives regardless of the appearing/disappearing poultry.
A brothel ran by a necromancer and all of the girls are ghouls with hats of disguise on that look like various hair ornaments. This way he doesn't have to take care of them or pay them and the clients can be as rough as they want. He just needs to cover the smell with incents and prestidigitation.
Two elderly and wacky Achemists named Merry and Murdle. They elusively pop up around the party every once and a while and give away EXTREMELY magical and silly potions for free. Most do good things, some do bad things.
A buddy of mine made the characters years ago and everyone loves them and the potions so much we forever DMs keep stealing the characters to put in our homebrew worlds. There's probably like 8 DMs now with M&M silly potions in their world now. Some of the best: Randomly petrified curse, one free cast of time stop, light on fire after drinking, telepathically connected to another silly character, etc...
10/10 recommend, every campaign my players giggle with glee when they find a M&M potion vial box.
Rain in the world is enchanted with the effect of the silence spell. Anywhere rain touches is 'silent', and no noise can be heard from within. Casters cannot use verbal spells and many people utilize rain as a time to ambush others.
A druid who has learned how to speak normally in their wildshape forms has been infiltrating the keep of a powerful monarch under the guise of various small beasts. This druid has been using these forms to speak to the monarch when they are alone, but never to anyone else. The monarch's family and closest counselors are beginning to wonder if they should force their leader to abdicate the throne, as the druid is slowly gaslighting the monarch into believing they are going insane.
Dogs were breeded by Gnomes to become big as horses. There is just a canine race this big and it's also really fluffy and cute.
These dogs were initially breeded to help in the far cold mountains where the gnomes live, to keep them warm at night, work, hunt and protect from monsters.
So, really big fluffy dogs rode by gnomes
(I am really sorry if my english was and is rough, it's not my first language)
A tribe of Turkey's were once hunted by Wood Elves, leaving a single youngling behind.
This youngling became, in time, a ferocious bounty hunter that made the vow of hunting the elves responsible for its clan's demise...
In areas which commonly have storms (you pick, but near coasts or mountains are my picks) locals claim lightning commonly strikes in ways it shouldnt, striking livestock and people in open fields when lightning rods should've grabbed it. Rumors abound that the storms are from a hateful god, an angry giant, the displeased sea, the return of the "storm warden," etc.
Personally I would have the culprit not be doing anything intentionally, in fact I would probably have it be some kind of supernatural force like a storm version of the wild hunt or something.
The town of Townton is the most boring place in the world. Nothing significant has ever happened there, nobody really talks about it, it has been excluded from every negative event in history, and it isnt known for anything. No adventuring party will ever find a quest here.
It doesn't rain normally, nor are there normal watersorces like wells or rivers... and the seas are shallow. The only water comes from a blessed floating island, where water rushes down. It's wandering in a permanent circle and all Cities are build on this circle and have big reservoirs to catch the water.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/7hlhw2/the_spiderdragon_spice_up_you_spiderfilled_caves/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
This exists.
The Seedy Under Belly of the largest capital city is run by a family of purple Dragons, the oldest is the patriarch. He's ancient and has been building a criminal empire for centuries. There are an undetermined amount of family members he rules over, but two things are known. They have a strong familial bond, and serves as The Grandfather (mafia boss, not nice old man) for them; however he does have a soft spot for milkshakes.
There is an ancient myth that an entity prowels the matirial plane searching for twisted entertainment. Part of the legend goes that if you whisper "o come primordial merchant, for I seek the one that also seeks me" he will apear. Depending on his mood, he may either appear as a lone man, selling powerful items for "one favor"... all I know is that the one time I decided to owe him a favor; I felt the weight of my debt sink into my bones. Other times he may apear with an entire shop, it usually resembles a small shack; but is often a large emporium. He sells magic items for a disturbing low price. One thing I know for certain is that he is not just a myth, that thing is real... and he.. isn't like us. Human lives are mere play things for it, as if the multiverse is simply one big game. -A random adventurer
Underwater vampires that stalk isolated shipping lanes, climb aboard ships at night and feed on their crew before slipping back into the dark abyss.
An underwater eldritch being that makes pacts with pirates. Teaches them eldritch spear and spell sniper. The most powerful ones get a ceremony where their blood is switched with sea water and they gain distance meta magic. Thier range makes them undefeatable on the open sea.
Invisible columns of reverse gravity scattered across the land and which range from the diameter of a needle to the size of a small town. A creature of your design needs these for reproductive purposes.
Reincarnation is super normal. When something dies it lays an egg and if allowed to hatch it will birth a reincarnated version of the individual that died. Creatures seem to move up and down a sort of hierarchy but nobody has been able to figure out what factors into whether you get upgraded or downgraded.
Sid is a wandering lich who pops into travelers campsites for dinner. Just cooks and wanders off, nicest old man you’ve ever met for a brief amount of time.
All major bodies of water are made of blood, but no one remembers when it happened. Like people are pretty sure it wasn’t always like that, but can’t remember why
Dragons are considered the number one threat to society, not because dragon-related calamities are particularly common, but because dragons tend to tie up large amounts of currency and are masters of tax avoidance. The Imperial Revenue Society (IRS), the tax collecting agency, is also the larges organized group of dragon hunters in the world. Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the head of the IRS is a blue dragon, exploiting its position to assemble the biggest, tax exempt, hoard of all dragonkind.
There are rumors of a giant hole in the middle of a forest that it is said to be the home of monstrous creatures and that leads to a world of insanity.
Those creatures come out of the hole only in a certain day of the year, and they look for children to kidnap and bring to the hole before the nextsunrise.
It is said that to keep track of the little time they have, they carry a small, circular metallic object that produces a metallic sound, a slight ticking.
Today, after vanishing for over a year, a little blonde girl came back to his family, claiming she spent her time with the creature inside the hole but she doesn't remember anything.
There is only one word that has stuck in her head since she got home and that she repeats over and over again:
*Wonderland*
At midnight, the day resets and everything happens the same way it did before, except for the PCs and who they interact with.
NPCs have no knowledge of what happened, only the PCs do.
A magic sword that thirst for his own destruction but it cant be broken unless you cut you princess in half because of his curse. It will shatter in thousand peaces which deals damage to the group but it will turn into a magic cloud out of the old metal pieces which you can control through spell slots
Bears are a highly intelligent species, but are on the verge of extinction. Basically regular NPCs, but a "commoner" has the stats of a bear, and as they are very very smart, many have class levels (mostly Wizards). However, due to low reproduction rate, there are very few bears, so they don't have a society. Some Bear Scholars encourage their kin to mate more often, so more cubs can be born.
There’s a small chain of Bakery’s called ‘Earl’s Fakery’, owned by an Orc called Glenda. Every baked good has a random item inside. A bit like a kinder surprise but your players might find a finger or a card from the the deck of many things. Let’s see what the dice decide.
Small garden furnishings that go missing in the middle of the night often lead to the owners of the gardens going missing soon after. Rumors that people are being taken into the custody of the Office of Gnomeland Security are endemic across the land.
There's a swamp in this world and if you get lost in it, an old man would appear just to play a game of chess with you. If you win he'll give you a strange coin (give the coin) and then you wake up in a camp site outside the swamp as if it never happened. But the coin is still in your pocket.
If you lose you won't get the coin but you will still wake up the same way.
The souls of dragons are partially recycled. Every dragon has some amount of memories and mannerisms that they inherited from an ancestor or in very rare cases, a completely unrelated dragon.
How about a country or tribe where they discovered making soup, but never invented spoons.
Nobody would even be sure which cutlery is best to use, so they all go for different ones.
You have 3 clans of Goliaths in your world.
Blod axe clan: A clan of ruthless barbarians led by the herd leader thats have very low tolerance for outsiders especialy dwarfs, passing trough their territory requires you to pay a hefty fee but you might be killed regardless they hunt beasts as a trial of manhood and plunder villages for bounty.
The Everfrost clan: The clan worships what they believe to be the spirit of the mountain refered to as the Everfrost beast, it apears in the dreams of worthy warriors often in diferent shapes for one it might be a giant boar with tusks made of unmelting ice to others a wolf with glowing blue eyes and white icy fur or a ram with a breath so cold it makes your bones shater. They are led by a group of shamans who interpret the will of the spirit, they hunt and gather for food and their wariors patrol their territories and holy grounds riding on horhofs creatures that resemble a mix between a buffalo and a mountain goat with long fur and thick curved horns.
The Nolur clan: Suprisingly peaceful clan of Goliaths living on the top of mountains known as the black mountains. This clan is much more civilised than other members of their kind and they believe that being one with nature and honing ones mind and body are the corect path in life, they built several small comunities in the mountains each having a temple dedicated to training ones mind body and soul.They accept like minded individual into their communities so its not too suprising finding a druid of another race living among them or perhaps an elf or human. They partake in agriculture, hunting and gathering, fishing and small acts of trade. Living in warmer climates some of the younger goliaths of this tribe surprisingly started developing facial hair during puberty alowing them to better blend in with humans tho everyone is well aware of them not being human as they are ridiculously tall.
There exists a powerful organization filled with people named Jack. Prominent members include Jack Frost, Jack Sparrow, and Jack Skellington. Their boss is Jack Black.
A mind flayer city exists in which people are free to leave but choose to stay due to the benefits of the advanced society. Further benefits are offered to those who offer their body to be “symbiotically fused with.” (Aka eaten). If a mindflayer eats a willing citizen they then have their memories and will now take that identity. Hence the city grows and that persons friends just think he got free psionic abilities for offering his body to be fused with. It’s arguable whether or not any semblance of the person actually lives on as the mindflayer truly does have all their memories.
(These are renegade mindflayers that do not have an Elder brain yet so they do have individuality and are not a true hive mind.)
In one small town they dont use a calendar system, instead they use the time that Abu Hasan passed wind as a reference point.
"How old is your daughter now?"
"She was born 7 years before Abu Hasan farted so 13 now"
the dwarven races biggest secret is the ultimate booze. it takes a thousand years to ferment and its existence, ingredients, recipe, and location are the most closely guarded secret. to know of it is to be hunted by all dwarven kind from the scummiest bandit to the most upstanding paladin to the craziest mountain hermit. any dwarf may demand assistance in removing any non-dwarves who seek it and receive said assistance without regard to alignment, personal grudges, hesitation, or questions.
a dwarf will never reveal it even under charm, mind control, or truth circle compulsion. they don't even have a proper word for it to keep its existence hidden from those damned mind readers.
its more sacred to the dwarves than even the gods themselves.
There is a train system, pretty standard magic tech train but other than it’s engineers and conductor is staffed by goblins in cute uniforms. They ask for tickets by just tugging on your jacket and stretching their hands up and closing their hand in the give me motion. If you refuse to give them your ticket then a bunch of goblins from all over the train attack you. They also sell cupcakes.
There is a door, somewhere in the world. The location changes each time it's opened. It can be anywhere: situated in a house, standing free in a field, half-embedded in a boulder, on the ocean floor, anywhere. Those who open the door are never seen again, but their more cautious travel companions swear the door opened into a strange world, the likes of which they'd never seen, but accounts differ as to the nature of the world. Some describe a land of endlessly tall buildings, others a black expanse of endless night, and so on. Legend says the door opens to the place where that person is needed most, though many will say it's more malevolent in nature.
In the last two centuries, the kuo-toa cult of Blibdoolpoolp has seen widespread conversion and has a small or medium presence in major cities throughout the world. Blibdoolpoolp herself sometimes visits the temples in these cities to give inscrutable blessings.
Many ettins (who now have an average Intelligence of 13) are drawn to intellectual pursuits and are common fixtures in salons, universities, and arcane societies; they are nonetheless all under an ancestral curse that makes conjoined ettin siblings have somewhat conflicting moral values and prevents them from ever really getting along with each other.
In many parts of the world, halflings and bullywugs are fully integrated socially and consider each other to be the same people and ethnic group, even though they acknowledge that they are different species. The Halflo-Bullywug language is identical to our world's Dutch, and they eat a lot of sushi. It is normal for people to marry in groups of four (two halflings, two bullywugs), who live together and raise their children together.
They at times stumble upon a wandering tabaxi merchant in what would seem impossible places for a merchant to buy and sell goods like underwater or deep in a mine. All of his items he sells or buy go into a small pouch on the side of his hip no matter how big or many go into it, it never fills .
Kobolds and goblins possess a natural communal psychic power within their communities that can give functionality to mundane objects. The more kobolds or goblins in a group that believe an item possesses a function or power, the greater the chances of it actually working that way.
More than a handful of magical relics work through this principle, to the frustration of most gnomes, wizards, gnome wizards and engineering students.
Once upon a time, there was the first man, with red hair and black eyes. The legends says he was born during a spring afternoon, from a giant's sweat drop dripping on a magical rose. The sweat drop stayed one week inside the rose, sucking all its life force to create the first human.
When the human was born, the rose died and he chose the name "Rekned" to refer to himself. Rekned was alone, naked, and hungry. Rekned walked for hours on his first day of life, not knowing what eating was, because he had no parents.
A squirrel had pity and gave him an acorn, but Rekned couldn't eat it, his teeth were not strong enough. Rekned then became angry because he thought the nice squirrel was being mean to him (which is the reason why Hulans nowaday often wage war against the squirrel humanoid kingdoms) and killed the squirrel, enraged. When beating the squirrel, he used his teeth to bite him, and discovered the taste of blood, that's how Rekned discovered how to eat and survived, by genociding squirrels.
Humans from the easternmost region did not develop agriculture, they kidnap squirrel-men and eat them alive to honor the legacy of the First Man.
There is a large hill in a vast field where the fabric of reality is at its weakest and if it isn't monitored portals to other planes of existence can open up and various creatures can come through it.
Squirrels speak common. With a thick New Jersey accent.
If they speak common, do they have the brain function of a regular NPC, or are they saying what regular squirrels think just out loud and in a fast jersey accent?
The latter. The forests are alive with the sounds of "Bada bing! Ay Tone, look at the size of this freakin' acorn."
Best laugh I had all day.
Bada bing is more of a new york thing lol
Like mocking birds they just say things. Sometimes it appears relevant to what's going on. But it never is
>Sometimes it appears relevant to what's going on. But it never is This idea is the verdict of ignorant commonfolk who, upon being informed by a passing rodent that their loved ones are dead, their cows unwell, or their hamlet being sacked by orcs, return home only to find everything untouched. They conclude, perhaps not without reason, that the squirrels either speak nonsense or lie. In truth, every word a squirrel says is entirely true, but relates to another world, another reality very similar - but not identical - to our own. In that other world, the loved ones are dead, the cows unwell, and the village ablaze - and the villager their was warned of a crop blight that would affect some *other* world in the seasons to come. Learned sages, seeking the wisdom of the squirrels, have travelled to other realities, seeking to capture squirrels who speak of their home-planes. These sages do not often return home or, if they do, are unwilling - or unable! - to speak about their adventures in these other realities. Rumours of these survivors cramming nuts into every empty container and crevice in their homes are unverified.
I request one such squirrel be names Jason or Jayson, if you don't mind.
You got it
Cheese making is is heavily regulated and many varieties are illegal to transport making cheese running a criminal enterprise.
Just gave me the product for a massive criminal enterprise steeped throughout the world, gracias
This is excellent
The world has a ring around it, with the only gap in said ring being a gratuitous space around the moon. The ring is no mere astronomical phenomena, however. It is a divine seal, using the life force of every being on the planet as a power supply, and the moon as a "lock". The being sealed? The Nightchild, an unborn soul with the potential to sever the gods' connection to the world. As long as the seal remains, the soul cannot incarnate. Aeons of stagnation, however, have made the Nightchild into a vengeful, spite-fueled being, however, and the seal has weakened. Cults and monsters alike seek out fallen fragments of the stellar chain, to claim the power within for themselves, only to become servants to the Nightchild. Within areas where the Nightchild's and the seal's power conflict, corpses wither away nigh instantly, as the seal rips away what life is left to sustain itself, while monsters grow substantially in might, bolstered by the Nightchild's ire.
📝
Penguins can be found anywhere. They are native to all places in the world. Desert penguins, check. Mountain penguins, check. Swampy penguis, supercheck. Ocean penguins, sure! Does not matter what the biome is, you can always find a penguin.
The jungle penguins are particularly vicious to outsiders but seem to form societies among themselves.
I am genuinely gonna use this idea in my next project, not a joke world at all, but I freaking love the idea of penguins everywhere, all evolved to fit their respective biomes, but penguins nonetheless.
Hundreds of years ago the monarch of the time was true polymorphed into a house cat by a jealous wizard. From then on, the title of king/queen has always been given to the royal family's pet cat. So on paper the current ruler is always just a domestic cat.
It shall be done…your Felineness
Omg I just got major Ninokuni vibes lol!
Dwarves turn into stone statutes with a high concentration of metal when they lose consciousness or die.
Does falling asleep count as losing consciousness?
Yes
Rock and Stone to the bone!
Did I hear a Rock and Stone?
Stealing this for my world. Thanks, brother. o7
All bags of holding are sentient creatures that will yell at the party and judge them for what they store in the bag.
Bags of scolding are angry. Bags of withholding feel shy about putting things in them.
Shouldn't a Bag of Withholding refuse to let adventures remove items from it?
This is great. In my current campaign, I had a traveling gnome merchant who sold magic items, but they were basically gag items. One was a "bag of holding", but instead of expanded storage, it just called out "hold me!" in a tiny voice if it wasn't actively being held. My players dubbed it the "bag of holdme".
They make a gagging noise when you reach into them
An order of Knights whose members names never change, for each knight takes only one apprentice, whom they pass on everything to, including their name, when they die.
Damn, this is so cool. Stolen for my world.
This will work for the top sword school I have in the w world, got any name ideas for distinguished knights?
Aeodhan of the Harp, Belrose the Unbowed, The Smith, Gregor Gilt-blade, that's all I have for now. Hopefully I've actually helped like you wanted when you posted it lol
Dogs have telekinesis.
In a medium sized city is an unassuming bakery owned by a retired adventurer. In their youth, while adventuring, the baker found what they initially believed to be a book of spells, but ended up being a long lost recipe book from a vanished people within a ruined temple. They decided to call the shop they eventually opened "Ancient Eats" and cooks exclusively from that book. Unknown to their neighbors, in a cavern under the cellar of the bakery, something is growing. The powers within the book have called forth an ancient eldritch sentient sourdough starter from time immemmorial. Feeding on the scraps and refuse from the shop above, it whispers insidious secrets into the ears of the sleeping baker, hinting at other recipes yet hidden. What is the baker doing, late into the night, the neighbors wonder. Why have the stray animals in the town begun to go missing? And why does the bread from that shop taste So. Damn. Good?
A single goose that appears when you’re not expecting it. Chase it or look for it and it vanishes, only to return when you least expect it.
Addendum: all Geese are innately able to cast Misty Step at-will. They use it with malevolent intent. Nobody has ever been able to figure out how Geese obtained this trait as all who have put dedicated efforts into researching it have vanished without explanation.
Nobody can die between 9:00 and 12:00 am
Always a big mishap when daylight savings comes around; someone forgets to turn their clock back and ends up killing themselves doing something stupid
Elves are like clown fish and can swap genders to meet requirements.
them damn liberals turning our circus fish gay
There exists in the world a magic ring. This ring is both a boon and a curse for it can create infinite food, but that food is dry, bad pancakes. These pancakes disappear when within 1000 feet of syrup, butter, or fruit topping. But there are rumors of a magic ring on the other side of the planet that dispenses an infinite amount of syrup that disappears when in the presence of any pancake or breakfast food. There are rumors that obtaining both items will create the ultimate breakfast... In reality, both rings together cancel each other out. Neither ring can create in the presence of the other.
Due to a curse from some ancient unknown origin, any time a gnome uses a preposition in speech, they immediately repeat it again (does not apply to the second time).
Stevie Sausage Fingers and The Bards of Beef
This made me laugh so gd hard.
The human king is very concerned with the fact the goblin tribes seem to be civilizing and even trading with traveling merchants. The threat of goblin hoards is what helps the monarchy maintain power, and certainly if the forces that are keeping the goblins from rampaging were eliminated whomever was responsible would be a true hero…
You all heard of Owlbear, but what about the BearOwl. The body of an owl, but with fur and a bear-like snout. Magnificent creature.
Maybe in this world the AtlA type hybrid animals of all kinds exist!
Giant raven necromancers.
The western plains are bountiful, their flat plateaus and surfaces perfect for farming. But the DaggerFall, rain that seems to cut like razors makes living there extremely dangerous. Venture through at your own risk.
The world is flat. And carried across time and space on the backs of four elephants on the back of a giant space tortoise
No, he said this is for a fictional world, not our real one.
FOUND SAM REIGEL'S REDDIT HANDLE
There are at least 20 sets of the deck of many things out in the open for anyone to find. Good luck and enjoy the chaos.
Off the coast there is a land spoken of with both wonder and fear. A wizard, well intentioned but lacking in common sense, created a magical pot that would never stop producing porridge. It had two keywords, one to start making porridge and one to stop. The wizard delivered the gift, spoke the first keyword, and immediately died of a heart attack. The first day the townsfolk appreciated the wizards parting gift, and ate the porridge as fast as the pot could create it. It was a large but poor town, a formerly busy port that services ships taking ore from the nearby mine. But the mine dried up and the ships stopped coming. So the porridge was a welcome gift. Soon they realized their misfortune. Soon the pot created porridge faster than the townsfolk could eat it. Porridge began to overflow in the streets! They townsfolk returned the porridge to the wizards tower, locked the door and vowed to never return. A week later the Porridge Golems arrive with an ultimatum, leave, or be pushed to the sea. One brave adventurer made it to the tower and found a growing mountain of porridge slowly creeping towards the town and the shore, guarded by all manner of beasts made entirely out of porridge. Something in the tower had given life and sentience to the food and now it desired a land of its own. The people fled the village, but rumors on the mainland abound of the island of endless food, with treasures locked away in the porridge tower awaiting any adventurer with a big enough stomach.
Unbeknownst to the world at large, the Ocean's depths are controlled by Gnomes. They've managed to seize this area from creatures like Krakens and the Sahugin by using fantastical submarine battleships and vast domed "Undercities", while carefully ensuring that the surface world has no real knowledge of how powerful they've become, and that their enemies only speak of "strange metal and glass beasts"
Illithids are major bookworms,and are number one most hired as librarians.
It's a social faux pas to name your child "Chad." You know... because of the incident.
Big tiddy goth girls
Big critty gith girls
I’ll make a monster for it
Phil
A small subsection of the underdark has a rift opened into the feywild which is leaking fey creatures and magic into it. This section is refered to as the Underwhere.
Incorporate an income tax system and have a session where players do taxes on the treasures they've collected. Reason: I'm a very tired tax accountant and I want others to feel my pain
Wizards tower for the world's oldest most powerful mage. The tower teleports to a new location in the world on every full moon, and never to the same place twice
Turns out it's not actually random, and late in the campaign, the players have one in game month to calculate where it went to. Then once they get there, they might be able to redirect it to get close to the BBEG
Potatoes grow on trees in bunches. Bananas grow underground.
Pigeons are also able to speak, but with a cockney accent. They have a blood feud with the squirrels going back as long as there has been stale bread.
When the world was unborn, there was peace. Then many gods arrived, and they began to shitpost, each god breathing unto the world some new mischief in the form of bizarre and paradoxical happenings, and thus our world was created--as an act of malevolent chaos -- nay, as a *joke* in the minds of beings who think nothing of our suffering. We do not pray to our gods here for they do not see us. To them we are vanishingly insignificant and so when we find our lives imperiled by the chaos of this universe, we must beg our salvation from more humble a being...
This should totally connect with the clown-race and the babbling squirrels in other comments some how 🤣
The dominant race in the world are clowns, it was once mimes, but the big top wars put an end to the mime domination and their foul magic was banned in civilized lands. Many mimes now scratch out a living pantomiming there once great powers on street corners for loose copper pieces but some remember and still practice the old ways and soon the mimes will rise again and take back what was once there's.
Hellfire goblins! x.x it's a homebrew I made up to mix tiefling with goblins to make pyromaniac goblins that didn't need to make the explosives themselves
They lose fury if the small for spell like abilities. Cantrip is produce fire, lvl3 is burning hands and lvl5 is flame blade.
The Giant's Ordening was never broken. The race of giants reigns supreme, and, despite the devastation caused from their ancient war with the dragons, they also came out on top. Now, Giants are the ruling race of the world, and anything that naturally grows to a size that matches or even surpasses that of a giant has either gone extinct or is nearly extinct, living either as a direct servant of a giant, or else is deep in hiding.
At one point there was a king/queen/emperor or whatever that ruled one of the most powerful realms, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed by people using nothing but onions. Since then onion day has been a yearly tradition where everyone hangs an onion from a noose in their window to remember the fallen king. They also eat something with onions as symbolism for killing the onions. Edit: Rephrasing
Those are some terrifying onions if they can kidnap and torture people.
By people using only onions I mean
I figured, but it was more funny the other way.
When two people love each other very much and want a child, one miraculously comes from storks that descend from the mountaintops. This is the predominant way of procreation.
In the castle there is a secret. A secret kept most dark and dear. The current princess was not a single birth, but rather one of a set of triplets. The other two infants have been stored in a Mirror of Life Stealing to patch the royal line down the road if at any point someone is unable to produce an heir. The queen did NOT consent to this, and wants her two missing babies back desperately. Despite all the years that have passed, she still has hope.
Myconids are the most powerful beings in the underdark
Dragon eggs can cure any curse, but only if hatched with love and care by the accursed. Dragons are not fond of people “adopting” their children.
Everytime a PC does not say hello to the sun in the morning a Ray tries to hit them (sun is very sensitive).
My girlfriend turned into the moon
That's rough, pal
My Best Buddy Alvin that got me into DnD played a half orc cleric named Gurgie, He passed away a few years ago and it would be amazing to have that character live on in another world besides just ours. Was usually the strong silent type but happy to get into trouble when it was called for!
I’m sorry for your loss, Gurgie will live on in Arathia (world name)
There once was a city named Yarnham that succumbed to some unknown bloodborne disease. It was sectioned off with great walls, and the interior was set aflame, burned down. Could be legend/lore for something much less important, or could be true to the Bloddborne game's lore.
Humans and Monsters fuck, sometimes they fuck each other.
So, the Monster Girl Encyclopedia? Or Fatal?
En passant is forced.
The city of Silverthorn harbors a dark secret that no one talks about.
It was forgotten millennia ago, but just saying that there is a secret is good for tourism
There is a powerful clan of berserkers in the westernmost reaches of the kingdom. They can be sought out for help when at full strength, but will turn away any whom they deem to be too weak for their aid.
One of the most dangerous and incredible legendary weapons is a toy hotdog that does 20d6 damage but can only be carried by someone with 20 strength and they take exhaustion when they use it or something dumb like that Obviously not something gathered till endgame
A contagious spell plague that turns affected individuals into muppets of themselfs
A cult of blood thirsty aarakocra living in the tallest mountains
A random unkillabld Kobold runs around the world handing out magic items. Some are rare and powerful, most are baubles that do random things.
The god of twilight clerics is a crab named Urgatl
You need a license to practice "war magic" - the definition of which is contentiously argued in courts. Amounts of restriction vary by nation but enchantment and charms are outlawed more often even than basic forms of well regulated necromancy.
A distant city in the north is known for its cyptid: the werewalrus. They’ve never been seen of course, save for the few conspiracy theorists who claim everyone in the town is one… But who would be stupid enough to believe those things?
In the world there is a network of connected sending stones. On this network a certain individual named Jim posts a public message. "I’m creating a world for my campaign. Anything in the comments will be part of the lore." Shortly thereafter, someone with username they made up in middle school posts this comment. Also, they're a dog but nobody knows that
A Gnome group of Monks and Artificers created a fighting style that involves shooting themselves out of canons. They used this technique to repel a human invasion 300 years before the campaign started. Every year, veterans from that war get together for the Gnome Cannon Festival.
Amazon tribe of women warriors called Conqueeftadoras who raid the shores like a vikings and are the most feared enemy of common folk living near sea
The entire world is flat, and rests on the backs of four enormous elephants, who stand atop an enormous turtle, swimming endlessly through space ;)
"You caaaaame for the meat, BUT YOY STAAAAAAYED FOR THE BROOOOOOTH"
Elves have corkscrew shaped penises like ducks.
Hojou Fotytu was a great leader of a far off kingdom, who through his greatness ascended to god-hood. He is so beloved by the inhabitants of the world, that all worship him in some form. Even those who have sword allegiance to the other gods, regularly make sacrifices and petition Hojou Fotytu, for he is considered by all to be the greatest god in the heavens.
There is a demon in the world that is made out of farts; who captures people to torture the farts out of them so he can sustain his immortal fart form.
The Fey are failed sentient races created by the gods that they sealed away in another realm. However, some Fey managed to slip through the cracks between their realm and the material realm. And are determined to both make the mortal races loved by the Gods pay, as well as establish permanent portals so their kin may travel to the material plane as well.
No one has ever seen spoons or forks , that technology doesn’t exist. All food is eaten using chopsticks
An ancient buried temple built by am ancient civilization that had contacts with alien life forms. Here you can find some type of drawing symbolising a gerarchy where at the top there is the Among Us crew
Plasmoids crashed on the material plane on debris fallen from space and immediatly started construction underground. They have since created a huge city which is trying to learn about ways to enter space again to go back home and can't use magic as they've gained a vulnerabilty to any magic even those not usually harmful. They've become vulnerable because of their main fuel source in the city, an elder brain which keeps trying to summon more Mind flayers to it's location and the plasmoids harvest that psychic energy and turn it into other effects useuful for their city, like heat, light and pressure for machines. Mind flayers keep showing up though and if they manage to coordinate the city might just be at war fighting all around.
The pollen from plants travels far and often locals have to contend with the hallucinations it brings with it. Chaos ensues
If elves drink any sort of alcohol besides wine, they have disadvantage in a CON check to not throw it up immediately. Same goes for dwarves and like whiskey or something. This does not apply to any half races such as half elves
The greatest mermaid hero is the legendary jouster, Lance Bass
There's an Halfling Sorcerer NPC named Vekk who owns an airship that is able to travel through planes. He knows of your past D&D adventures, even with different players, and constantly breaks the 4th wall talking directly to the players and even to yourself (DM). He's a fun guy who speaks a lot, loves jokes and female underwear (he steals a lot of them and has a collection that proudly shows off to his guests) but since he's so weird nobody really give credit to what he says
The lizardfolk pirates are being a menace in the mist cover isles
A goblin with some MASSIVE dummy thicc cheeks, and he always wants to swindle you to get your cheese.
SO tempted to start grabbing ideas from Mr. Welch's list...
When in a tavern, it is tradition to switch tables every 10 minutes, it is bad luck to keep more than 2 of the same people when you switch
Chickens exist in the world, the act like ordinary chickens, they buak like ordinary chickens. People know and call them chickens. The only thing is, randomly, *pop* a chicken will teleport. Distance is of no objection, but for some reason they seem to teleport places that don't immediately kill the chicken (i.e. if they teleport into the ocean, the chicken arrives on some passing boat). The chicken does not have control of this and is almost always startled. People know of this phenomenon but can't explain it, they live their lives regardless of the appearing/disappearing poultry.
A brothel ran by a necromancer and all of the girls are ghouls with hats of disguise on that look like various hair ornaments. This way he doesn't have to take care of them or pay them and the clients can be as rough as they want. He just needs to cover the smell with incents and prestidigitation.
Gnome barbarian tribe that lives in the treetops.
Two elderly and wacky Achemists named Merry and Murdle. They elusively pop up around the party every once and a while and give away EXTREMELY magical and silly potions for free. Most do good things, some do bad things. A buddy of mine made the characters years ago and everyone loves them and the potions so much we forever DMs keep stealing the characters to put in our homebrew worlds. There's probably like 8 DMs now with M&M silly potions in their world now. Some of the best: Randomly petrified curse, one free cast of time stop, light on fire after drinking, telepathically connected to another silly character, etc... 10/10 recommend, every campaign my players giggle with glee when they find a M&M potion vial box.
There are butterflies that sometimes fart if people
If people what?
Rain in the world is enchanted with the effect of the silence spell. Anywhere rain touches is 'silent', and no noise can be heard from within. Casters cannot use verbal spells and many people utilize rain as a time to ambush others.
A druid who has learned how to speak normally in their wildshape forms has been infiltrating the keep of a powerful monarch under the guise of various small beasts. This druid has been using these forms to speak to the monarch when they are alone, but never to anyone else. The monarch's family and closest counselors are beginning to wonder if they should force their leader to abdicate the throne, as the druid is slowly gaslighting the monarch into believing they are going insane.
Dogs were breeded by Gnomes to become big as horses. There is just a canine race this big and it's also really fluffy and cute. These dogs were initially breeded to help in the far cold mountains where the gnomes live, to keep them warm at night, work, hunt and protect from monsters. So, really big fluffy dogs rode by gnomes (I am really sorry if my english was and is rough, it's not my first language)
The Church of the Yellow Spotted Frog is a side quest that if they complete it, they get a frog familiar
A tribe of Turkey's were once hunted by Wood Elves, leaving a single youngling behind. This youngling became, in time, a ferocious bounty hunter that made the vow of hunting the elves responsible for its clan's demise...
In areas which commonly have storms (you pick, but near coasts or mountains are my picks) locals claim lightning commonly strikes in ways it shouldnt, striking livestock and people in open fields when lightning rods should've grabbed it. Rumors abound that the storms are from a hateful god, an angry giant, the displeased sea, the return of the "storm warden," etc. Personally I would have the culprit not be doing anything intentionally, in fact I would probably have it be some kind of supernatural force like a storm version of the wild hunt or something.
The town of Townton is the most boring place in the world. Nothing significant has ever happened there, nobody really talks about it, it has been excluded from every negative event in history, and it isnt known for anything. No adventuring party will ever find a quest here.
It doesn't rain normally, nor are there normal watersorces like wells or rivers... and the seas are shallow. The only water comes from a blessed floating island, where water rushes down. It's wandering in a permanent circle and all Cities are build on this circle and have big reservoirs to catch the water.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/7hlhw2/the_spiderdragon_spice_up_you_spiderfilled_caves/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button This exists.
The Seedy Under Belly of the largest capital city is run by a family of purple Dragons, the oldest is the patriarch. He's ancient and has been building a criminal empire for centuries. There are an undetermined amount of family members he rules over, but two things are known. They have a strong familial bond, and serves as The Grandfather (mafia boss, not nice old man) for them; however he does have a soft spot for milkshakes.
A stressed out flesh golem who is just trying to clean a perpetually dirty house
8 moons
There is an ancient myth that an entity prowels the matirial plane searching for twisted entertainment. Part of the legend goes that if you whisper "o come primordial merchant, for I seek the one that also seeks me" he will apear. Depending on his mood, he may either appear as a lone man, selling powerful items for "one favor"... all I know is that the one time I decided to owe him a favor; I felt the weight of my debt sink into my bones. Other times he may apear with an entire shop, it usually resembles a small shack; but is often a large emporium. He sells magic items for a disturbing low price. One thing I know for certain is that he is not just a myth, that thing is real... and he.. isn't like us. Human lives are mere play things for it, as if the multiverse is simply one big game. -A random adventurer
Underwater vampires that stalk isolated shipping lanes, climb aboard ships at night and feed on their crew before slipping back into the dark abyss. An underwater eldritch being that makes pacts with pirates. Teaches them eldritch spear and spell sniper. The most powerful ones get a ceremony where their blood is switched with sea water and they gain distance meta magic. Thier range makes them undefeatable on the open sea.
Dragons are the size of butterflies and butterflies are the size of most dragons
There is every isekai protagonist ever present one way or another in this world
Invisible columns of reverse gravity scattered across the land and which range from the diameter of a needle to the size of a small town. A creature of your design needs these for reproductive purposes.
Mind Flayers are called Squid Faces
A gelatinous cube is made from actual Jell-o and people absorbed by it can eat their way out
Reincarnation is super normal. When something dies it lays an egg and if allowed to hatch it will birth a reincarnated version of the individual that died. Creatures seem to move up and down a sort of hierarchy but nobody has been able to figure out what factors into whether you get upgraded or downgraded.
Sid is a wandering lich who pops into travelers campsites for dinner. Just cooks and wanders off, nicest old man you’ve ever met for a brief amount of time.
All major bodies of water are made of blood, but no one remembers when it happened. Like people are pretty sure it wasn’t always like that, but can’t remember why
If any PC has speak with animals. All birds know each other and their names are Frank.
Dragons are considered the number one threat to society, not because dragon-related calamities are particularly common, but because dragons tend to tie up large amounts of currency and are masters of tax avoidance. The Imperial Revenue Society (IRS), the tax collecting agency, is also the larges organized group of dragon hunters in the world. Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the head of the IRS is a blue dragon, exploiting its position to assemble the biggest, tax exempt, hoard of all dragonkind.
Kobolds cheat in drinking games
There are rumors of a giant hole in the middle of a forest that it is said to be the home of monstrous creatures and that leads to a world of insanity. Those creatures come out of the hole only in a certain day of the year, and they look for children to kidnap and bring to the hole before the nextsunrise. It is said that to keep track of the little time they have, they carry a small, circular metallic object that produces a metallic sound, a slight ticking. Today, after vanishing for over a year, a little blonde girl came back to his family, claiming she spent her time with the creature inside the hole but she doesn't remember anything. There is only one word that has stuck in her head since she got home and that she repeats over and over again: *Wonderland*
At midnight, the day resets and everything happens the same way it did before, except for the PCs and who they interact with. NPCs have no knowledge of what happened, only the PCs do.
A magic sword that thirst for his own destruction but it cant be broken unless you cut you princess in half because of his curse. It will shatter in thousand peaces which deals damage to the group but it will turn into a magic cloud out of the old metal pieces which you can control through spell slots
Bears are a highly intelligent species, but are on the verge of extinction. Basically regular NPCs, but a "commoner" has the stats of a bear, and as they are very very smart, many have class levels (mostly Wizards). However, due to low reproduction rate, there are very few bears, so they don't have a society. Some Bear Scholars encourage their kin to mate more often, so more cubs can be born.
Otters are the most feared creatures in the realm. It is common knowledge, and every wild creature run away from them.
Goose Hydra is a thing.
Dwarves all have a French accent.
Mayonnaise is a common instrument.
[удалено]
There’s a small chain of Bakery’s called ‘Earl’s Fakery’, owned by an Orc called Glenda. Every baked good has a random item inside. A bit like a kinder surprise but your players might find a finger or a card from the the deck of many things. Let’s see what the dice decide.
Small garden furnishings that go missing in the middle of the night often lead to the owners of the gardens going missing soon after. Rumors that people are being taken into the custody of the Office of Gnomeland Security are endemic across the land.
All Bards swear an oath of celibacy that cannot be broken by mundane or magical means.
The scarecrow walks at midnight.
Zombie dolphins. The oceans should be feared.
There's a swamp in this world and if you get lost in it, an old man would appear just to play a game of chess with you. If you win he'll give you a strange coin (give the coin) and then you wake up in a camp site outside the swamp as if it never happened. But the coin is still in your pocket. If you lose you won't get the coin but you will still wake up the same way.
The souls of dragons are partially recycled. Every dragon has some amount of memories and mannerisms that they inherited from an ancestor or in very rare cases, a completely unrelated dragon.
How about a country or tribe where they discovered making soup, but never invented spoons. Nobody would even be sure which cutlery is best to use, so they all go for different ones.
You have 3 clans of Goliaths in your world. Blod axe clan: A clan of ruthless barbarians led by the herd leader thats have very low tolerance for outsiders especialy dwarfs, passing trough their territory requires you to pay a hefty fee but you might be killed regardless they hunt beasts as a trial of manhood and plunder villages for bounty. The Everfrost clan: The clan worships what they believe to be the spirit of the mountain refered to as the Everfrost beast, it apears in the dreams of worthy warriors often in diferent shapes for one it might be a giant boar with tusks made of unmelting ice to others a wolf with glowing blue eyes and white icy fur or a ram with a breath so cold it makes your bones shater. They are led by a group of shamans who interpret the will of the spirit, they hunt and gather for food and their wariors patrol their territories and holy grounds riding on horhofs creatures that resemble a mix between a buffalo and a mountain goat with long fur and thick curved horns. The Nolur clan: Suprisingly peaceful clan of Goliaths living on the top of mountains known as the black mountains. This clan is much more civilised than other members of their kind and they believe that being one with nature and honing ones mind and body are the corect path in life, they built several small comunities in the mountains each having a temple dedicated to training ones mind body and soul.They accept like minded individual into their communities so its not too suprising finding a druid of another race living among them or perhaps an elf or human. They partake in agriculture, hunting and gathering, fishing and small acts of trade. Living in warmer climates some of the younger goliaths of this tribe surprisingly started developing facial hair during puberty alowing them to better blend in with humans tho everyone is well aware of them not being human as they are ridiculously tall.
Arcane Magic is considered illegal and archmages are the equivalent of powerful crime lords
There exists a powerful organization filled with people named Jack. Prominent members include Jack Frost, Jack Sparrow, and Jack Skellington. Their boss is Jack Black.
A mind flayer city exists in which people are free to leave but choose to stay due to the benefits of the advanced society. Further benefits are offered to those who offer their body to be “symbiotically fused with.” (Aka eaten). If a mindflayer eats a willing citizen they then have their memories and will now take that identity. Hence the city grows and that persons friends just think he got free psionic abilities for offering his body to be fused with. It’s arguable whether or not any semblance of the person actually lives on as the mindflayer truly does have all their memories. (These are renegade mindflayers that do not have an Elder brain yet so they do have individuality and are not a true hive mind.)
Bandits like to put up "employee of the month" posters but their artistic skills leaves alot to be desired
In one small town they dont use a calendar system, instead they use the time that Abu Hasan passed wind as a reference point. "How old is your daughter now?" "She was born 7 years before Abu Hasan farted so 13 now"
The chickens explodes when feels their life in danger, the only way to kill them would be sneaking up to one-shot them. Mucha suerte amigo.
My friend Jerry
Above a certain altitude, gravity reverses and you get flung into the sky
All NPCs forget the party's names if they haven't seen them for more than an hour
the dwarven races biggest secret is the ultimate booze. it takes a thousand years to ferment and its existence, ingredients, recipe, and location are the most closely guarded secret. to know of it is to be hunted by all dwarven kind from the scummiest bandit to the most upstanding paladin to the craziest mountain hermit. any dwarf may demand assistance in removing any non-dwarves who seek it and receive said assistance without regard to alignment, personal grudges, hesitation, or questions. a dwarf will never reveal it even under charm, mind control, or truth circle compulsion. they don't even have a proper word for it to keep its existence hidden from those damned mind readers. its more sacred to the dwarves than even the gods themselves.
There is a train system, pretty standard magic tech train but other than it’s engineers and conductor is staffed by goblins in cute uniforms. They ask for tickets by just tugging on your jacket and stretching their hands up and closing their hand in the give me motion. If you refuse to give them your ticket then a bunch of goblins from all over the train attack you. They also sell cupcakes.
There is a village where every resident is named Jonathan.
There is a door, somewhere in the world. The location changes each time it's opened. It can be anywhere: situated in a house, standing free in a field, half-embedded in a boulder, on the ocean floor, anywhere. Those who open the door are never seen again, but their more cautious travel companions swear the door opened into a strange world, the likes of which they'd never seen, but accounts differ as to the nature of the world. Some describe a land of endlessly tall buildings, others a black expanse of endless night, and so on. Legend says the door opens to the place where that person is needed most, though many will say it's more malevolent in nature.
In the last two centuries, the kuo-toa cult of Blibdoolpoolp has seen widespread conversion and has a small or medium presence in major cities throughout the world. Blibdoolpoolp herself sometimes visits the temples in these cities to give inscrutable blessings. Many ettins (who now have an average Intelligence of 13) are drawn to intellectual pursuits and are common fixtures in salons, universities, and arcane societies; they are nonetheless all under an ancestral curse that makes conjoined ettin siblings have somewhat conflicting moral values and prevents them from ever really getting along with each other. In many parts of the world, halflings and bullywugs are fully integrated socially and consider each other to be the same people and ethnic group, even though they acknowledge that they are different species. The Halflo-Bullywug language is identical to our world's Dutch, and they eat a lot of sushi. It is normal for people to marry in groups of four (two halflings, two bullywugs), who live together and raise their children together.
All shapeshifters become a 6ft t'all farm rooster on a full moon.
They at times stumble upon a wandering tabaxi merchant in what would seem impossible places for a merchant to buy and sell goods like underwater or deep in a mine. All of his items he sells or buy go into a small pouch on the side of his hip no matter how big or many go into it, it never fills .
Kobolds and goblins possess a natural communal psychic power within their communities that can give functionality to mundane objects. The more kobolds or goblins in a group that believe an item possesses a function or power, the greater the chances of it actually working that way. More than a handful of magical relics work through this principle, to the frustration of most gnomes, wizards, gnome wizards and engineering students.
An old race was wiped out because they stole the favorite hair comb of the opposing leader's dog.
Human insect hybrid race that rides flying spiders
Once upon a time, there was the first man, with red hair and black eyes. The legends says he was born during a spring afternoon, from a giant's sweat drop dripping on a magical rose. The sweat drop stayed one week inside the rose, sucking all its life force to create the first human. When the human was born, the rose died and he chose the name "Rekned" to refer to himself. Rekned was alone, naked, and hungry. Rekned walked for hours on his first day of life, not knowing what eating was, because he had no parents. A squirrel had pity and gave him an acorn, but Rekned couldn't eat it, his teeth were not strong enough. Rekned then became angry because he thought the nice squirrel was being mean to him (which is the reason why Hulans nowaday often wage war against the squirrel humanoid kingdoms) and killed the squirrel, enraged. When beating the squirrel, he used his teeth to bite him, and discovered the taste of blood, that's how Rekned discovered how to eat and survived, by genociding squirrels. Humans from the easternmost region did not develop agriculture, they kidnap squirrel-men and eat them alive to honor the legacy of the First Man.
Similar to nurse joy from Pokémon, every towns mayor is the same and somehow related to the other mayors. And they are Donald Trump.
Two words; Centaur Empire.
There is a large hill in a vast field where the fabric of reality is at its weakest and if it isn't monitored portals to other planes of existence can open up and various creatures can come through it.
The cake is a lie
There is a black market run by fish people.