General Discussion

Hello, everyone! I've found myself faced with a small problem lately. However, I'm sure it's nothing the wonderfully created people here on FR couldn't help me with!

I've been tasked with running a tabletop RPG for my regular gaming group. No problems there. I pitched my idea to them and everyone loves the concept, so no problems there either. My problems decided to sprout when I had moved on to the adventure design phase. I need help coming up with some minor antagonists and other nasty beasts that are both thematically appropriate and different enough to catch the players off-guard. We are playing Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e, if that helps at all. However, the game itself isn't nearly as important as the fluff, so don't worry about mechanics.

The game's setting has a very strong Brothers Grimm-type fairy tale feel to it. I've drawn inspiration from Edwardian and Victorian literature, as well as a surprising number of ballets. A lot of stories told with ballet have an air of beautiful tragedy to them, which I adore and am trying my best to capture in-game.

Thank you in advance for all your help! If anyone has any more specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

If you're looking for nasty beasts, you could take inspiration from Lovecraftian literature!

@radiant17

Interesting! I personally play D&D5E. There are some 5E monsters (I'm not sure if they're in 3.5E or not) that might fit, specifically the aboleth and behir. If that's not your cup of tea, perhaps check out the monsters in the game Call of Cthulhu (a brutal tabletop RPG inspired by the likes of D&D) or even the computer game Darkest Dungeon.

In a cavern there lies city, built over a link on a gigantic iron chain that spans over an endless abyss. A notorious gangster controls the city through force, usurping the puppet king and his court. Your adventurers arrive, and are contracted to clear out a warehouse. Only it's a set-up. Inside you find some thugs, and a cage filled with a mysterious creature, it breaks out tears through the team and is set loose upon the city.

@radiant17
Sleepy Hollow

Take Baba Yaga's hut and turn it into an independent creature. Quaint little hut all by itself in a sunny forest glade. So very welcoming to travelers with a cozy fire going and everything. The owners might be home soon, so why not stay a while?

Except it turns out the hut is carnivorous. Spend a night there and it's the last thing you'll do. And then once word spreads of it, it just stands up and walks away to another location.

@radiant17

The first thing I would think of with a ballet-related adventure is a monstrous Black Swan! Or maybe something more subtle, a middle-aged widow known as the Black Swan who, out of jealousy of the young beautiful maidens, steals the hearts (possibly literally) of their grooms-to-be.

Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful suggestions!

@InHeritent I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner!
@shadowmaat I must admit, I'm loving that idea. I might just have to use it :D
@Cheeseburger Actually, I had already planned to have a pair of black swans guarding a castle in the first adventure. But I really love the widow concept, too, so I think I'll have to work that in as well!

@radiant17

I would imagine a kinda "Lady Tremaine" type of character for the Black Swan widow!