The Stratagem’s Archive

Tag: story exploration

  • The Town That Forgot How to Sleep: A D&D Prompt #2:

    Welcome to Your Dreams Come True

    D&D Prompt

    We find ourselves in the Underdark of Faerune, hidden away from the light of the over world: our heroes are either on the run, exiled, or wanted by the common and uncommon law.

    Either way, you need to have enough gold to be able to start over. Sadly, gold is in short supply since arriving in the Underdark, until you find something. Something that might be your ticket to a brand new life.

    Hidden on job boards within and without of the town’s guild, you notice a posting. It is provocative, utterly insidious, and yet everyone else’s eyes seem to pass over it.

    Except yours.

    The parchment is brittle and yellow at the edges, but the ink where you notice it the most is bold and fresh.

    5,000 gold pieces to each individual who accepts this job.

    The instructions are clear, the reward too sweet to pass up, and there is only a single word written beneath the instructions, should you accept this job.

    Eliose.

    Once evoked, you will be escorted to the town where gold, drink, food, and entertainment flows. The town full of lights, music, and decadence alike.

    All are welcome within the gates of Somnival. And, if you choose to live here — you will be wanted, you will be loved, and you will never want to leave.

    Gameplay Mechanics:

    For this story, unlike my first D&D prompt Quarantine Life: In The Confines of Comfort: Idea #1: where you create your character as you play, The Town That Forgot How to Sleep, can begin with characters premade like any campaign. The starting levels are at the GM’s discretion, I haven’t thought about whether to make this a one shot or a campaign yet, but it could work either way.

    A few mechanics I want to share that will impact the PC’s the longer they stay in this town:

    • You can accumulate gold through gambling and arena brawls at, “The Final Call”.
    • Enjoy a drink and rest at, “The Brief Respite.”
    • Visit the local apothecary, “Heavenly Brews.”
    • You can enjoy the best forms of entertainment
    • They will accrue exhaustion points.
    • Short rests and long rests will be interrupted and recovering health and spell slots will be difficult.
    • Any cleric, paladin, and warlock character will struggle to connect with their patrons.
    • Mages, sorcerers, and druids will struggle to cast their spells, unless they save on concentration rolls.
    • Fighters, monks, and barbarians are not able to protect your party either.
    • Not all that glitters is gold here.

    This is still a work in progress, just like Quarantine Life: In The Confines of Comfort: Idea #1:. The mechanics for each story will be fleshed out over parts of the D&D installments, however, this is just the beginning of what Somnival has to offer.

    Somnival Welcomes All

    If you made it towards the end of this D&D story idea, and it drew your curiosity, then I’ll be continuing Quarantine Life and The Town That Forgot How to Sleep, in later installments.

    I would love to know what your thoughts are on where this potential module could go:

    What kind of story do you think Somnival has in store for you?

    Share your thoughts in the comments below, it’d be fun to see what you come up with. Having other people’s perspectives and thoughts are very helpful and welcomed here.

    You can follow the writing process or how they progress into a simple module here at The Stratagem’s Archive: Start Hereand see what other things I write about.

    Thank you again for taking the time to read what I have to share, it means a lot that you did. I have a free downloadable PDF here as a thank you, you can check it out if you’d like; not spam, no pressure, just a thank you from me to you. Thank You + Free Download

    I have a lot more to write about, I do my best to write daily, so I will do my part and see you all later in the archives.

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  • 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!

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  • 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.

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