The Stratagem’s Archive

Category: Dungeons & Dragons

  • The Prophecy of Broken Bonds and Blood: A D&D Story of Choice and Cost

    Welcome — However You Found Your Way Here

    A ruined kingdom, a tragic king, and hidden legacies: explore The Prophecy of Broken Bonds and Blood, a story-driven D&D campaign for storytellers.

    A Story Narrative I Wanted to Explore, I’ll Tell The Tale Here Through D&D

    The Kingdom of Raez’ed is a shadow of its former self. What was once a hub of learning, growth, and experimentation has been twisted by war and blood.

    Under the rule of the Wretched King O’hdes, villages burn, rivers run dark with ash and blood, and the cries of orphaned children echo through decimated streets.

    Soldiers, once protectors, march gleefully in service of destruction, their faces twisted with greed and lust for power.

    Yet, behind this devastation lies a story of sacrifice, foresight, and impossible choices.

    King O’hdes: Villain, Hero, or Both?

    King O’hdes is not cruel by nature. Before he took the throne, he was a man with a large heart, devoted to his people and family.

    But he learned of a prophecy: if he failed to take certain actions, his own children—royal and bastard children scattered across the kingdom—would grow into harbingers of destruction.

    Faced with this choice, O’hdes made a painful decision. To protect his children and the kingdom’s future, he would become the villain in the eyes of his people.

    He would rule with cruelty, destroy alliances, and commit acts that would mark him as a tyrant. Yet every act was calculated to ensure his children, and the kingdom they would one day inherit, would survive.

    He offered his people an escape, resources to flee, and gold to start anew. Many accepted. Others stayed to share the burden, loyal to a king whose morality had been twisted for the greater good.

    Even the mothers of his children were not spared from this plan. O’hdes gifted them silver rings with jade gems—rings that would protect them in times of danger.

    Should the war horns ever sound, they were to pass the rings to their children. These symbols would mark his children, both to protect and to challenge them, ensuring they would confront their legacy when the time came.

    Older PCs and Faint Memories

    For older player characters—those in their mid-to-late 20s or early 30s—there’s an added layer of mystery. These characters might have faint, fragmented memories of their father, but not as a king.

    Instead, they remember him either as a soldier, a farmer, or an artisan. King O’hdes dressed simply and walked among the populace, working alongside his people to understand and connect with the kingdom he would one day rule.

    This approach subverts the traditional “royal father reveal,” creating multiple perspectives of the same person and deepening the emotional impact when the truth comes to light. Players must reconcile their childhood memories with the reality of their father’s choices—an opportunity for rich roleplay and moral exploration.

    For the younger PC’s though, they would only know their mothers and those who stepped up to raise them as their family. Not once questioning who their real dad is because someone became their father figure without them knowing.

    Like a step-parent who’d been around since birth and raised their partner’s existing child as their own: with their own form of love, patience, and competence.

    Narrative Mechanics for Your Players

    This story works as both a rich narrative and a DM tool:

    Character stakes: The PCs are O’hdes’ children, unaware of their lineage, giving them personal stakes in the kingdom’s ruin.

    Moral ambiguity: The king is neither purely good nor evil. He’s a living lesson in the gray areas of choice and consequence.

    Symbolism: The silver rings serve as narrative and mechanical tools, signaling pivotal plot points and player discovery.

    Player exploration: The kingdom is scarred, dangerous, and morally complex. Players explore consequences of leadership, witness the impact of choices, and uncover hidden truths.

    Lessons from the DM’s Chair

    When I created Raez’ed and King O’hdes, I drew inspiration from real life: we make difficult choices every day, small and mundane while others grand and loud, and someone will often see us as the “villain” in their story.

    My goal as a DM was to create a world that reflects that complexity: where actions have consequences, morality is gray, and players are compelled to navigate challenges thoughtfully rather than relying on combat alone.

    The faint memories of older PCs are a tool for narrative subtlety—small glimpses of the past that foreshadow revelation without revealing it outright.

    They reinforce the idea that stories are made richer when players actively piece together the truth, just as we piece together understanding in life.

    Reflection & Invitation

    Maybe there’s a bit of King O’hdes in all of us—trying to protect what we love, even if it costs us something we can’t get back. We make choices, we burn bridges, and sometimes we convince ourselves it’s for the greater good. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t.

    If this story made you pause, or sparked something in you—a memory, an idea for your own campaign, or just a thought about the weight of our choices—I’d love to hear about it.

    Share in the comments below or send your thoughts to whatimtryingoutnow@gmail.com for anonymous submission.

    Tell me what you saw in this story. Tell me who you’d be if the prophecy were yours to carry.

    You can also like, share, or subscribe to follow more D&D story prompts, narrative-driven ideas, and reflections like this one.

    Whether you’re a DM, a writer, a player, or someone just passing through—The Archive is open to you. It’s a place for the weary, the wondering, and the wandering. Stay awhile, share your thoughts, or just read and rest for a bit.

    A Thought For “Evil” Player Characters

    The choice that King O’hdes makes between becoming a tyrant king or face his children becoming the world destroyers gave me a new line of thought;

    What if there are player characters in the campaign that are evil aligned?

    They thrive on chaos, they want to see the world burn, and this would be a pyrrhic defeat because King O’hdes learns that his children destroyed the world irregardless of what he did.

    Should this ever happen and you want to use this narrative for your campaign, Fellow Archivists, make this realization for King O’hdes as heartbreaking and as mind blowing as you possibly can.

    This isn’t a king who destroyed his own kingdom. This is also a father who did everything in his power to ensure his children had a home to return to, even without him present, only to learn that nothing he did made a difference.

    Explore Other D&D Vignettes Below

    An Updated Note:

    It’s been months since I touched this post, but I want to change the evil king’s name from King O’hdes to King Pierre Rhick.

    The name change seemed fitting until recently because, depending on how the players play through the campaign, I wanted to have the king’s name sound similar to “pyrrhic,” instead of his name being inspired by Odysseus.

    Even though the king is going against his nature to prevent a calamity from happening, his home and land are burning, there will always be at least one player who would choose to instigate the apocalypse just for shits and giggles.

    Especially if it lets them stay in character.

  • If You Gave Me A Blank Page, This Is What I’d Start Writing About.

    What do you enjoy most about writing?

    “Oh, writing, please don’t forsake me now.”

    Writing Has Been Enlightening and Liberating

    This is a tough question for me because I like to write about a lot of things. In my “About Me” page About The Stratagem’s Archive: The Debriefing Area:, in my “Homepage” The Stratagem’s Archive: You Begin Here:, and even on my post pages, I’ve written that I’m just an average dilettante who likes learning new things, see what outcomes I get, and share what I’ve learned here.

    I like to write about things I find interesting, even if my knowledge is incomplete or bare, as it gives me an opportunity to bridge my personal gaps.

    However, if I really had to pick something, then I would say that I like writing D&D story prompts, like in my most recent post D&D Stories I Won’t Get To Use (Yet): Idea #1:

    It’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to writing a story that combines world building, fantasy and/or sci-fi, potentially horror, using real life inspiration, and many more elements without it becoming a book. Many D&D stories eventually become books, though it’s not the main reason why I write these kinds of stories myself.

    I’m a gamer and a bookworm looking for recommendations – books, games, cartoons, stories, movies, writing, and other media I could get ahold of – are things I hold dearly. Being imaginative filled my days and D&D, when I got into it at the end of 2023, gave me a chance to share the ideas I kept to myself and refine them over time with other people.

    I’ve ran a few of my own home brew stories before I had to put D&D and GMing on pause. My first story was called, “The Golden Chest of Lady Ahn’ket”, it was supposed to have been a one-shot, but I didn’t know how long a one shot was supposed to be and it took roughly a dozen 2-4 hour sessions to finish.

    I could share more about this story as part of the “D&D Stories I Won’t Get to Use (Yet)” series I’m building. Although, I have used this in game with people, I wanted to refine my first story and, hopefully, share it other people.

    Although, I had to quit with the group I played with on Discord because my schedule wouldn’t allow much free time as before, but I would love to get back into playing and running games.

    In conclusion, D&D stories and prompts are what I like to write the most. They can expand in many different directions and you’ll never know where the players would take it. They’ll derail all of your hard work, but that’s why it’s great how flexible it can be, and how flexible I need to be, to keep moving forward with the story.

    If you like D&D, I would love to know what kind of stories you’ve played, what elements you’ve found fun to play, or if you have recommendations for a novel GM. Let me know in the comments down below, and I’ll see you in another post. Thanks!

    Enjoyed this post?

    I write about creativity, coding, art, and personal growth.

    Subscribe to follow my journey and get new posts when they drop!

  • Quarantine Life: In The Confines of Comfort: Idea #1:

    D&D Ideas For Later Exploration

    Welcome, Co-conspirators, to The Stratagem’s Archives, open for perusing. Today, the archives will be exploring story ideas for D&D that I want to explore in the future, be it a one-shot or a full campaign, and articulate it here.

    Author’s Note: I used ChatGPT to assist in this article and further expand my idea, not write the idea itself. ChatGPT has been a collaborative tool and soundboard, it’s not a ghost writer. The ideas in these posts are from my own imagination and stories I want to explore. Thank you.

    Quarantine Life

    I recently thought about took place during a world wide pandemic where people fled to quarantine zones that wizards control to keep the healthy people safe from infection. The facilities have Golems, known as R.O.A.M (Ready Optimal Articifical Mediator) take care of everything for the players and keep the facility on lockdown.

    The players have been in the facility for so long they don’t remember what outside is like. R.O.A.M. Also makes the players take medication to keep them healthy that it is part of their routine and they don’t see the Golems as threats, but active caretakers.

    The purpose is for the players to want to escape, to see if the pandemic is real or fake, and why there are less people in the facility than when they went in. This will also have the players figuring out what armor, weapon type, and skills they would choose for their character creations live and in the moment thnn pre-game. I want people to be engaged and invested than existing in the game.

    How ChatGPT Made This Sound Epic

    D&D Campaign Intro Prompt: “Quarantine Protocol”

    You don’t remember the last time you saw the sky.

    Not clearly. Not without a ceiling light buzzing above your head.

    You’ve lived inside this quarantine facility for what feels like years—or maybe longer.

    A global arcane contagion swept across the world, and the wizards promised protection.

    Here, inside the walls, you’ve been safe. Monitored. Medicated. Kept alive.

    The caretakers are artificial constructs called R.O.A.M.s—Ready Optimal Artificial Mediators.

    They glide down corridors in absolute silence. They never sleep.

    They know your routine.

    They always know where you are.

    You take your daily pills like everyone else. You eat the food that appears in the walls. You watch the faces of others, dwindling in number—

    —and no one questions where the missing have gone.

    Until now.

    As the Game Begins

    You don’t remember who you were before the facility. Not completely.

    You don’t know what you can do. Not yet.

    You’ll discover your abilities—your class, strengths, and skills—through play, based on how you react to the challenges ahead.

    Are you strong? Clever? Dangerous?

    You’ll find out soon enough.

    For now:

    The power flickers. The alarms stay silent. And the hallway is empty.

    Something is different today.

    It’s time to remember who you are.

    It’s time to find out what’s outside.

    From Concept to Campaign: A Taste of What’s to Come

    This idea is just one piece of a larger concept I’ve been developing—a narrative that explores memory, obedience, curiosity, and the subtle horror of being too comfortable. It’s a story where players will discover who they are in real time, shaped by their choices, not their character sheets.

    This blog post marks the beginning of what I hope becomes an evolving project—one I’ll be expanding on with additional encounters, player-facing materials, worldbuilding ideas, and campaign tools that encourage deeper roleplay and immersion.

    If you’re interested in campaigns that challenge the mind more than just the dice, or stories where truth is a puzzle waiting to be unraveled, I invite you to follow along.

    More will be shared in future posts—ideas around character creation as discovery, subtle dystopia in fantasy, and how you can make your players want to escape before they even know why.

    Until next time, thanks for exploring the Archives.

    More D&D Articles to Explore