"To be or not to be": A Shakespeare D&D Campaign

It's probably not the most original thought, but I have an idea to write a series of D&D 5e campaigns based on Shakespearean plays. Needless to say, some plays lend themselves exceedingly well to such a treatment. So far I've been able to adapt The Tempest and A Midsummer Nights Dream into some pretty good adventures if I don't say so myself.

The other plays I'm not too sure about. I think both Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth would make for a great dwarve-centric adventures, but alas I'm not too sure if it's a good direction to take it. I'm also not too sure as to what other plays would be good fits. So, I ask my fellow Tropers: what do you think might work as an adventure? And how would you approach it?

edited 27th Oct '15 3:05:38 AM by J.G.Crowne

Hmm ... I say it greatly depends on your players. Some campaigns are pretty universal no matter what party you have—unless you have someone who is a munchkin through and through—because fighting through dungeons, for as long as they are matched to the strength of the party, and solving minor clues here and there to open those dungeons or parts of them at the very least; but intrigue and theatrical role-playing ... well, with that you have to adjust the whole thing to the specific group you have or you may very well end with a train-wreck when your plot train gets derailed so badly that it ties into a knot (which is bad for its structural integrity, considering that trains can't really do that).

So sometimes it's possible, sometimes not; and when it's possible, it might be easier or it might be harder. And how exactly you could make those particular, or any other really, works into campaigns depends on whether your players want to be the main characters of such a thing, or minor characters, or just part of a crowd that somehow gets involved, or intruders onto it that change the base story onto something completely different just be being there. And you have to adjust it further depending on whether or not you have a player who likes to derail the campaigns you are in, or alternatively one on whom you can count to pull the situation back onto the base rails of it in case the group gets too far away.

That being said, I never even touched the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons—the last I played of it was the 3,5th edition and then it was other systems because my party likes role-playing for effect and fine-tuning builds more than classes and levels as used in D&D—so I can't help you with any specifics like what race can be for what and so on and so on, but what advice I could give, I gave. And if you find it helpful for whatever reason, I could continue (and if not, I'll just keep quiet).

I'd find it so hilarious if you did A Midsummer Night's Dream starring orcs as Oberon, Titania, Puck, and the fairies. Make Oberon and Titania wizards or sorcerers and Puck could be a rogue or bard. Funniest shyt ever.

Kazeto: No no, your advice is more than welcome here! This is an open discussion so any level of experience with D&D is appreciated.

Regarding the party; I think I'm rather blessed. While they love combat and explorative puzzle-solving, they are great role-players. They never derail plots -at least not intentionally, but those rolls happen- and I think that with the proper prep talk they could place a greater focus on role-playing.

As to whether or not the characters are 'riding the train' or are active participants in the plays, I'm going for a mixed approach. In A Midsummer Nights Dream, the P Cs essentially replace the human characters, while in The Tempest they take on minor character roles as they follow the Wizard Prospero's direction. Since that particular campaign starts of with the Party shipwrecked on the island, I found it appropriate.

Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet I'm hoping to be more involving campaigns, though how exactly to weave the P Cs into said campaigns is another concern of mine.

Nekomoon: Hahaha that would make for a pretty interesting twist . Might see if I can work that in.

Hmm ... if that is the case, then I think the other stories could do with some plot twisting as well.

Let's take Romeo And Juliet for that one, shall we? They key elements of the story are the fact that we have two people in what is "forbidden" love, and the fact that it ends with the death of the main characters or something like that.

And thus the plot twist: The Juliet is a lich of sorts, forcibly made into one by her family—of whom many are necromancers and the like—because she didn't want to actually do any of the stuff they'd been expecting of her (a white sheep of the family, so to say). And The Romeo is a cleric from a family of clerics—who generally are against necromancers and undead—and though he doesn't mind actually smiting the undead who are evil and stuff, it should be obvious how he feels about this particular undead.

The campaign, or quest chain if you prefer to call it that way, could involve trying to convince both of the families to let the couple be, trying to get them out of the place they are in made impossible because of The Juliet's family making her phylactery immobile or at least hard enough to move that the party won't manage, and would culminate with going onto a quest to find a way to change The Romeo into another sort of undead (a vampire, maybe; I can only guess but that does seem like a solution since they probably won't have the means to enlich him unless the party is evil) so that they can be together until the end of time and burying the entrance to the catacombs where The Juliet was and now both of them are so that no one may find them.

The main reward from the quest could be mostly cosmetic or sentimental, because the whole thing has enough potential for getting other loot along the way and I'm sure that getting some sort of mostly powerless but memorable trinket would be a better reward, considering how the whole story goes and how your players can actually role-play.

And yes, I'd spoilered parts of it because I think that way people would have a chance to guess what sort of deranged plot twist my mind had managed to conceive before actually seeing it. I'll have to think about the other one, but I might just get some amusing idea that you'll be able to use.

edited 28th Oct '15 5:13:56 AM by Kazeto

That's actually a pretty good twist on the story . Might have to make one or two tweaks, but overall sounds like a neat little adventure.

So here's an update as to my progress:

I came to a realization the other night regarding locations and coming up with plot hooks. Since the majority of Shakespeare's plays take place in Verona, I thought a sandbox approach would work best. At least this way, "exotic" locations like Prospero's Island and Macbeth's Dwarven Kingdom stand out more in the players' mind.

That being said, after some research I didn't find Verona very exciting. Kinda felt like a generic fantasy setting. It wasn't till I came across a passage in the 5e Dungeon Master Guide where a chord was struck.

Venice! Venice would make a perfect substitute for the likes of Verona and Padua! Its geography and history lends itself perfectly to the campaign I have in mind - The Battle of Lepanto would make for a terrific backdrop for Othello.

edited 1st Nov '15 7:03:13 PM by J.G.Crowne

I think a fantasy version of Venice with Shakespearean characters would make an awesome sandbox for gaming.

Thanks, Wolf!

I also think I may have come up with a running story throughout the campaigns revolving around The Tempest's Prospero - changed here to Prosperita, out of admiration and respect to Helen Mirren's performance in the film

In the play, the Wizard Prospero was the original Duke of Milan before he was usurped by his brother, Antonio, and banished to his island with his daughter.

Using that as a basis, I've come up with a backstory with a few meaty hooks that the players might enjoy, including a secret spy network who plan to bring the banished Duchess back into power. Whose the guy running the network? Othello

edited 2nd Nov '15 4:15:57 AM by J.G.Crowne

You could have the Capulet and Montague families being extremely powerful players in local politics, commerce etc in the town and have their machinations affect the town and therefore the PCs. If you've put a fantasy spin on them, things could get really screwed up.

Macbeth could start with the players meeting in the battlefield during the last battle of the rebellion Macbeth quells in the start of the play (or further back, if you want to have a more war-like beginning), then things quiet down and they get to know King Duncan's court more and interact with Macbeth, Banquo, Mac Duff, Duncan and the like. Depending on how things they go, the players may even witness (or actively participate) in Macbeth's assassination of the King, and after the assassination, they would have the choice of siding with Macbeth or fleeing with Prince Malcolm, or maybe staying in court as a Wild Card.

Then the rest of the adventure would be (depending on their choices) powerplays at Macbeth's court amidst his reign of terror and purges or adventures with Prince Malcolm and Mac Duff at La Résistance against Macbeth, culminating in the final showdown between Mac Duff and Mac Beth which the players could interfere on (or even clash amongst themselves, if members of the party decided to side with different people).

Basically you'd set the main focus on the civil war for the throne between Malcolm and Macbeth, and let players make their own decisions.

I think there's a lot of potential to be had here. A mage could spend his subplot trying to summon or find the Weird Sisters after suspecting foul magic to be in the air (or even ending up actively battling them, or alternatively serving their prophecies as an apprentice), a Knight could be desperately trying to protect Malcolm from Macbeth's assassins (and maybe even have Mac Duff as his Mentor Archetype), a Monk could be maybe trying to protect the civilians from the horrors of war, so forth

Yeah, I'm definitely planning on making Macbeth (its really hard to come up with a dwarven equivalent to that name btw!) the most intrigue heavy, but I love the civil war angle and dividing the team. Also, I would've never have thought of using the Weird Sisters as anything other than an encounter or trio of villains. That gives me some pretty wild ideas.

The biggest difficulty I'm having right now is world building and actually creating the country of Spera where these campaigns will take place. At the moment Italy is the biggest form of inspiration I have, but my attempts seems to keep turning into lackluster versions of the Italian peninsula. And boring.

edited 3rd Nov '15 4:24:09 AM by J.G.Crowne

Shakespeare's homeland, Britain, might also be worth looking into since Write What You Know is a thing. In particular the Scottish clans and English nobility.

Other ideas: - Richard III would be a pretty typical "overthrow the overlord" adventure. Don't really see what to make more interesting with this one.

- HenryIVPart1 barely needs to change anything, the adventuring party would follow Prince Hal and Falstaff's many adventures over the course of the English civil war and join Hal when he takes the throne. It'd be a good way to introduce players to the royal schemes of the court of this country and have them find their places in its society.

- HenryIVPart2 would presumably be a more machiavellian adventure with powerplay at the Court, with the impending death of King Henry IV and several noble factions struggling for power, leaded by the insidious pair Arcbishop of York and Earl of Northumberland. It is the players job to rat the spies and traitors out from the court and break them alongside Prince John, and on the way the players must protect and convince Prince Hal to become a righteous King after his father dies.

- HenryV would just be a full out bloodbath against the French (or their equivalent). Since you seem focused on Dwarves, you could make this a war between Dwarves (The English) and Elves (the French) for the control of whatever Kingdom the story is set in. While the others were more political civil wars, you could make this one a full out apocalyptic battle for the fate of Dwarven civilization.

edited 3rd Nov '15 6:33:24 PM by Gaon

I like the way you think Gaon. I think that Henry V might work best after the Macbeth plot has been resolved and Malcolm has been placed on the throne. I admit I'm not sure whether to place the Histories like Henry and Julius Caesar in another country all together or even exclude them. My original plan was to focus the campaigns on a war between Denmark and Norway ala Hamlet.

In regards to Spera though I've taken experimenting with other countries in the Mediterranean and so far France seems to be winning. The Alps and Mont Blanc seem to be great stand-ins for Dwarf Scotland and the Kingdom of Denmark. Since I'm taking cues from Kenneth Brannagh's Hamlet, the semi-continental climate inn the North-east is crucial. I want that snow.

Meanwhile Azzuríz -my Venice- would be situated in the Mediterranean Sea around a lagoon. I'll post some pictures once I get a proper shape down.

I know that double posts are a bit of a faux pas, but I thought I'd put down something of a lexicon so I won't have to keep reminding both myself and those reading this thread who is what and how it relates to Shakespeare and all that jazz. This list will be continually updated and edited as this project takes on more form:

Nations

• Spera - The country in which the majority of the campaigns are set. A mix between France and Italy with elements of Denmark.

• Stecia - A Dwarven kingdom situated in the North East mountain ranges of Spera. The majority of the kingdom is subterranean with only a handful of settlements and towns built above ground into the face of the mountains. Despite a history of warfare with Spera, an alliance has been built with its neighbor thanks to the Duchess Prosperita.

Organizations

• Zhentarim - A criminal organization in the world of Dungeons & Dragons; essentially a conglomerate of various mafias. Working in league with Prosperita's brother, Antinus. There emblem is of a winged viper descending on the sun on a black and gold banner.

• The Storm-gazers - A secret organization within the Azzuríz' City Guard, composed of all those within the city loyal to Prosperita. They operate in the shadows, spying and collecting information regarding the plot to frame the Duchess and return her to power. It's members meet in the catacombs of the city and can usually be identified with a sigil of an open eye with a bolt of lightning in place of a pupil somewhere on their person; usually subtly on jewelry or clothing. They're lead by Prosperita's former manservant, Gonzeletes.

• Azzuríz City Guard - The city's police force. Made up of those loyal only to the city itself. They will defend the peace, its inhabitants and it's Duke with their lives should it come to that. They proudly wear their sigil - a six-pointed star above the city's emblem - upon their armour.

Cities

• Azzuríz - Based heavily on Venice, this is the city where almost all the campaigns are set in a sand-box manner. An important port to the Speran Navy. The city's emblem is a spiked, white shell on an azure background with two white chevrons beneath it.

• Elíz - The capital of Spera, where the Royal Family have resided for generations. The location of one of the most important campaigns in the game. Based heavy on Kenneth Branagh's interpretation Denmark. It's sigil is a pair of red rosemary sprigs underneath a crown.

Districts

• Sottobosco - A ghetto in Azzuríz occupied predominantly by the city's Gnome population.

Characters

• Prosperita - Former (and rightful) Duchess of Azzuríz and a powerful wizard to boot. Gained her title for her efforts in a 7 year war with an enemy kingdom. A very influential person in Spera's recent history. Was banished when it was revealed that she was in league with the Zhentarim Crime Syndicate and had plans to assassinate the King of Spera.

• Antinus - Prosperita's brother and the current Duke of Azzuríz. Worked alongside the Zhentarim to frame his sister in the hopes she would be executed or banished for treason.

• Gonzeletes - The Duchess' former manservant who now serves under her brother. Leads the Storm-gazers in an attempt to expose his new master's treachery and return his former mistress into power. Stays in contact with her and uses his organization to keep her supplied through his spy network.

• Orletzo - A Drow and highly respected admiral in the Speran Navy. Currently posted in Azzuríz, he is maintaining a secret relationship with Desmina, the daughter of a lord named Barbeerus. Is the second-in-command of the Storm-gazers

• Kalibus - A lone tiefling and son of the warlock Sycorax. Was left alone on the island where Prosperita find herself after the death of his mother. Was briefly apprenticed by the Duchess before he assaulted her daughter Merida. Armed with magic, he is attempting to make an alliance with the island's hobgoblin tribe in order to slay Prosperita and take the island for himself.

• Merida - The daughter of the Duchess Prosperita. An fledgling ranger new to the world of adventuring.

edited 13th Nov '15 5:34:47 PM by J.G.Crowne

One of the biggest problems I'm currently facing at the moment is trying to figure out a way to start of my PC's adventure and introduce them to Azzuríz. My first thought was, naturally, to start things off with Romeo & Juliet; its a good place to start after all. Between the Montague and Capulet households spilling their feud into the city itself there's plenty of action to be had.

But as I developed the story more, I realized I needed a way to show just how terrible a person and how inept a leader the current Duke of Azzuríz is, and why it's in the PC's best interests to see the Duchess returned to power.

That's when I remembered The Merchant of Venice. But, as great an adventure that play would make, what with the court case and all, I'm not sure how to approach it.

Turning the tables and making Antonio/Antinus the villain and Shylock the victim of his antisemitism, but there's another problem.

How do you introduce antisemitism into D&D? How do you twist Shylock's request for a pound of flesh into a reasonable request for the money he lends Antonio?

Is this even a good idea?

Well, personally I think the best way to show antisemitism in it would be to make Shylock of race that some people are really biased about might help. Though what exactly that race could be depends on what you want done with the campaign later and how you'd already approached the races; for some people that's elves, for other dark elves, yet other would choose dwarves or even the common men, and it gets even more varied if you do not limit your NPCs' races to only those available to player characters.

That being said, if you truly wish to make Antonio the villain then the request is actually quite reasonable: Antonio does have to earn his status of a villain somehow, after all, and no matter how much of a mere metaphor it once could have been outing oneself as evil by doing or trying to do something to someone does tend to increase the intensity of that person's responses against you.

So have Antonio borrow the money, but then instead of using it for the original purpose use it to make/build/commission/order some sort of device/item/whatever that can be used to seal or trap Shylock in a way that would allow Antonio to get more money from Shylock and not care about giving it back (because some people would think that more money equals better chances at gaining the woman's favour, so to say). If you have him do that and make it so that it doesn't happen due to the party's efforts, the mere attempt even would be enough to make Shylock's request for his dues via the extreme-sounding method of getting a pound of flesh not actually that extreme.

edited 12th Nov '15 7:45:51 AM by Kazeto

Hmmm, ok how does this sound; what if prior to Prosperita's reign as Duchess of Azzuríz, the Gnomes were the Jews of the city. Prosecuted so far that they even had an entire ghetto allocated to them called Sottobosco. When she comes into power, things get better, so much so that major restorations to the city are underway.

Then Prosperita is banished. Her brother Antinus is bought to power, and hating on Gnomes becomes the "in" thing again.

Antinus is not on the level. He's in debt with the Zhentarim and needs to pay one of their agents. His boats haven't come in and he's low on money. So he goes to Shylock.

Shylock is down on his luck so he gives the last of his fortune on the speculation that should Antinus not pay it back, he takes a pound of flesh. Why do this? Well, Shylock thinks that he's protected -by whom he doesn't know- so the best way to get Antinus out of Azzuríz is through legal means. If Antinus can't fulfill the terms of the loan, he'd be braking the law and would be forced to leave.

When the case is brought to court, Antinus has it fixed and Shylock is banished.

Or so we think. Gonzeletes, Prosperita's former manservant and leader of the Stormgazers, recruits Shylock.

This way, the P Cs should come to understanding how dirty Antinus is, how corrupt the city is becoming and how desperate it is that Prosperita be returned to power.

Sounds good, I think.