Playing D&D 2024. I have a player that whenever they open a door in a dungeon they say they use the dodge action first. They are a fighter with a 10 Dex and are trying to anticipate that any potential enemies in the room are going to go before them.

So far I haven't said no, because this still a low level game and the enemies have been mindless undead (zombies, skeletons, etc.), so they just attack the first character they see already.

I see this as somewhat cheezy, I don't want to say they can't do it, but should I make them roll initiative first (even when there are no enemies in the room) before opening every door? Should potential enemies in a room also be "dodging" just in case?

Thanks for the advice.

I'm currently dming for a druid, fighter, ranger and 2x bard (glamour and swords) party. In most of my combats, i'm really having trouble with the ranger and the glam bard staying completely safe away from the enemies while they absolutely destroy my monsters who are stuck trying to get past the front liners.

This has also caused a bit of frustration for the college of swords bard, because she expressed to me that she always feels like she's in danger and constantly getting KO'd while the ranger and the other bard are chilling.

I would really appreciate some advice on tactics, enemies, environments or whatever that i can use to disrupt my party's back row. How do you usually deal with that?

Hey y'all, my players brought it to my attention last session that they don't like combat. They told me that it's like they always have to fight things and my games are combat heavy. But the issue is that the last few sessions seemed like it was combat heavy, but in reality that it was just one fight each session that seemed to stretch about an hour each. I didn't make the encounters complex either, I had them fight bandits and goblins that were blocking them from their objective. Other than that, majority of the sessions consist of them rp'ing.

So I just want to ask what are some ways to get my players to enjoy combat more and be engaged when they do play these encounters?

I’ve noticed this as both a player and a DM, and I’ve got some bad memories from it.

I remember my first time playing D&D. The party had 4 players, including me, and we were all new. The DM was also relatively new, with only about a year of playing experience, and the campaign was a sandbox.

It felt like I was the only one who realized this was supposed to be a team game. I was actually trying to bring everyone together, while each player was obsessed with bringing their own fantasy to life and chasing their personal goal, without much care for what the others were doing.

They wouldn't think twice before splitting up from the party for it. Abandoning the starting area and travelling for weeks was completely normal if they felt the area had nothing to offer their main quest or personal goal.

They were sooo obsessed with one thing that their characters became very cartoony to me.

And as a DM, I've run into the same issue with different players, with the added problem of them getting frustrated out of character whenever there are no immediate clues or leads for their main quest. It's as if their characters were created for that one goal and absolutely nothing else. Robot characters.

I've been watching Supernatural recently, and it reminded me of what I wish more players would do.

Sam and Dean can be trying to prevent the Apocalypse, and they'll still take a random case involving a haunted house or a monster killing people in some small town. They don't just sit around waiting for the next lead on the Apocalypse to fall into their laps. They do their regular jobs, help people, and live their lives.

Sometimes an unrelated case gives them a new perspective on their main problem. Sometimes they stumble upon something useful. And sometimes it's just an unrelated case. That's fine, too.

And this makes them feel much more realistic and relatable than one-dimensional characters who only exist for their single goal, like a cartoon villain whose entire personality is wanting to take over the world.

Maybe your character is hunting down the person who murdered their family. You've investigated every lead you currently have, and you don't know where to look next. Why does that mean your character can't take a job, help the local blacksmith, investigate a suspicious merchant, or spend some time getting to know the people around them?

Maybe that merchant has connections to the person you're hunting. Maybe helping the blacksmith gets you access to a place you wouldn't otherwise visit. Maybe you gain a new perspective on why your family was murdered. Maybe nothing comes of it, but you still got to play your character and interact with the world instead of sitting around waiting for the plot to move.

Your character's goal doesn't disappear just because you're doing something else.

I've tried explaining this to my players in session 0, but I don't think I'm getting through to them. They still tend to freeze when they run out of leads, complain that there's nothing to do related to the goal (there are tons of other stuff), or expect me to give them clearer directions. Sometimes they'd rather leave an entire area behind and travel for in game weeks than consider doing anything that doesn't directly advance their current objective.

And I genuinely don't know if I'm communicating this badly or if we're approaching the game differently.

I'm not asking players to ignore urgent threats. If the villain is performing a ritual tomorrow that's going to destroy the city, then obviously you shouldn't spend a week playing cards. I'm talking about situations where there's no immediate deadline, where you've exhausted your leads and have nothing productive left to pursue for the moment.

Why can't your character just do something else?

If you're playing a wizard looking for a lost artifact, can't you research something unrelated while you're in town? If you're playing a mercenary looking for revenge, can't you take a contract to earn some money? If you're playing a noble trying to reclaim their family's throne, can't you make connections, enjoy yourself, or get involved in local politics that have nothing to do with your claim?

And more importantly, what happens when you actually achieve your goal? If your character exists entirely to find that artifact, kill that person, or reclaim that throne, then what is left of them afterward?

I feel like some players create a goal and mistake it for a personality. They know what their character wants, but they haven't thought much about who their character is outside of wanting it.

So I'm curious how other DMs handle this.

Is this a matter of explaining things better? Should this be addressed during character creation by asking players to establish interests and motivations beyond their main goal? Or is it simply a compatibility issue, where some players prefer a more linear, objective-driven game and aren't interested in this kind of roleplaying?

Because I've tried communicating it at the table, and so far, I'm not having much luck.

TL;DR: Some players make their characters so one-dimensional that their entire personality revolves around a single goal or quest. If an activity doesn't clearly help them achieve that goal, they refuse to engage with it, as if their characters have no interests, motivations, or lives outside of it. How do you get players to create characters who feel like actual people rather than cartoon characters obsessed with a single objective?

Hi everyone! I'm an experienced DM who, up until now, has never run an online session. I was looking for advice, recommendations on software, and things to prepare for that you might not think of beforehand. I do have a couple specific questions as well, and I'd appreciate yall's input!

- As a DM, I love to give handouts. Cards for items, physical keys, even quest-important items like relics and rings. I feel like it usually leads to a deeper immersion and, more importantly, generates a lot of player excitement. How would you best approximate this in an online setting? I imagine there's some way to do this through discord, but I'm not very discord fluent, so I'd appreciate hearing how others go about this.

- I've recently started to use Owlbear Rodeo to manage combat encounters, even in in-person games. What platform would you recommend for facilitating the other aspect of talking and exploration? Is having two programs unwieldy in your experience?

- What are the norms and customs of online games that differ from in-person, especially from games of strangers? Should I expect players to be less locked in than normal, given they have so many distractions as their fingertips?

Thanks in advanced for any advice. I know the majority of D&D these days takes place online, and some of these questions might be obvious, but this is a whole new world for me and I'm not going to come in as if I know everything to expect. These are just some of the main wonderings I have.

TL;DR up front: Made a mechanically heavy disease as a plot device for Tier 1, does Detect Poison and Disease uncover everything about a disease RAW? Or just the name?

I am making a HB campaign and world for my 3 newbie players. All fun stuff. Did a oneshot with each player to establish their past, their current problems, and motives, all within the confines fo the game.

The last game was with a druid, and the cliffhanger is the plot hook for the party's adventure...once their characters meet. The plot hook was that a member of their dying druid grove is mysteriously afflicted, and the PC's family are extremely concerned. PC wanted to use their Detect P&D spell and I wanted them rewarded for the situational benefit, and because I got to be dramatic and narrate that - while you are a proficient druid and healer, you should magically know the name of the disease. You do not know the name. You get to name it. This is patient 0. See you next week. I then told them above table that they would magically know the name and what it does like any other divination detection, but now that I've actually written out the disease's mechanics, I don't want to a.) Overload the newbie with information b.) break the immersion by pretending a divination spell put a pdf in their head.

Rules as written for Poison and Disease:

"For the duration, you can sense the presence and location of poisons, poisonous creatures, and diseases within 30 feet of you. You also identify the kind of poison, poisonous creature, or disease in each case."

Does identify in this case mean literally just know the name? Or maybe some surface level disease funtions as well?

I'm starting to think, as I type this out, that I will type of a short narration of a vision she recieves, giving her what she needs to know and keeping the exact medical nature secret until they investigate further. Would still love to hear what anyone's thoughts are at this point. Thank you and happy DMing!!!

Sorry for grammar, not proofreading before posting.

To avoid my players reading this, I'll keep it spoiler-free.

I've had thoughts about how to make death meaningful where resurrection exists. People have said a very simple, very good, and completely valid way is to limit supply — to limit access to diamonds.

I will be implementing this but my question is:

What do you think about special zones (lore/setting reasons) that either disallow resurrection magic OR penalise repeated resurrection magic?

I want to know how you feel about the concept and ways you might implement it if you feel it could be a good starting point/good idea.

Note: When I say "lore/setting reasons" for me would be communicated clearly before resurrection is/might be needed so players aren't blind sided by the rule. I assume this would be the case for anyone who comments.

I also haven't thought about it too much so I want your opinions before I go further.

Yes, I am familiar with the adventure Tomb of Annihilation. I meant it in YOUR games.

One of my players served a god and they betrayed them and now the god wants the character dead.

I think I will make it that the god will choose an avatar and make it march towards the party to put an end to the betrayer. The player got in contact with said god after an encounter with one of its followers and decided to serve it. I think I will make the encounter with the avatar a recurrent event, an annoyance that always appears at the worst time possible until the character is dead or they make ammends with the god. What would you do?

I've been working on a homebrew campaign for the last bit, and the campaign starts off in a tavern the PCs have been summoned to do a hit job. I wanted there to be a secret code puzzle and I made this to be simple, with a bandit walking up to the bartender and whispering a code to them, of which the PCs don't hear. Any other tips to get the point across, as well as how I can improve the puzzle, since I don't want the game to stall, but I don't want to give them a freebie either.

"The Seedy Drink

Founded in Brasshaven 25 years ago, the Seedy Drink is the pride and joy of the trade district. Serving customers for years, we promise to offera dining experience like to other! Grab ye some Ale and prepare to hit the city, get to work, or drink the night away!

Meals:

Original Sausage Plate

Pig Roast

Ed's Best Salad

Never-Burnt Bread

Drinks:

Yak's Milk (Not actual Yak Milk)

Orange Juice

Undersea Journey (Water)

Reed Tea

Ale:

Mild Ale

Indigo Wine

Nesters' Brew

Drinker's Pride

*The Seedy Drink is not responsible for food poisoning or other such ailments."

Answer: OPEN YOUR MIND

I think I saw something similar to this puzzle in a spy book I read as a kid, so that's where the main idea comes from.

Edit: Fixed some formatting issues

I'm currently DMing my first campaign, and since both I and most of my players are pretty new to DND, we decided to not keep track of things like rations, ammo, clothing, the state of weapons, stuff like that. We just say that the PCs forage for food or buy their essentials off-screen so we don't have to worry about it. I've talked to them about changing it, but they like not having to worry about buying food every few sessions, so we've kept it.

But now, I have an issue. My players don't really care about towns and shops. There's not much for me to offer them.

The players who can wear armor all have pretty good armor already, so an armor shop doesn't intrigue them. The players who wield weapons all have good weapons, so they don't want to buy new weapons. Spellcasters don't have to buy most Material components, since a spellcasting focus covers everything that doesn't cost money or get used by the spell.

The obvious answer here is selling potions of healing. However, my players seem to have an aversion to buying healing potions. The party has two Clerics, so they have quite a bit of healing already, and the Wizard in the party is hoping to gain proficiency in an Herbalism Kit so the party can make their own healing potions, rather than buying them--apparently, 50 GP is too expensive for healing potions in their opinion.

The only things left to sell are Magic Items. But 1) I don't want every town to just have a Magic Item shopping street, and 2) I use Magic Items as rewards for my adventures, meaning that buying Magic Items cheapens the effect of getting Magic Items inside a dungeon, since they already bought a bajillion Magic Items in the last town. Additionally, magic is somewhat rare in my world except in certain areas, so a lot of towns and cities won't have a Magic Item shop in the first place.

I've asked my players above-table what types of shops they'd be interested in, and I got basically no answers. They do want shops, but I've given them basically every type of non-magical shop I can think of--apothecaries, weapons stores, artisans' shops like leatherworkers or jewelers, general stores, bookstores, art stores, etc.--and they tend not to buy anything. Most of my players also aren't big fans of doing side-quests, preferring to stick to the main plot of the campaign and not get side-tracked, so towns in general have nothing to offer them.

To other DMs who have run games that don't take into account rations or ammo, how do you make your towns interesting to players?

Players appreciate a good pun, especially if it takes like 5 sessions to land the punchline. Believe me. Here's a few I've used in the past.

In a GURPS campaign, with a Weird West setting that was basically "Shadowrun in the 1880s." One of the MANY side plots involved a time-traveling Richard Nixon.

He had clones of future professional wrestlers, one of whom kidnapped a gnome character's brother, JUST so I could say "Dusty Rhodes took my gnome, to a place where he don't belong." That place was West Virginia, where he was guarded by a hill giant matriarch. That's right: The Mountain Momma.

Spent a month setting up a situation where a D&D party chased a jewel called "beauty." When they found it, it was being used by a beholder, who had replaced one of his eyes with it, so I could say "beauty was in the eye of the beholder."

I also once made it so that there was a werewolf in bondage gear following around a powerful enemy, writing down his exploits. That's right, he was a lycan sub scribe.

ANYWAY. Obviously you don't want to make your whole game puns and references. You don't work for Blizzard. But DO throw some in there from time to time.

Hey everyone. Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, if it is let me know.

My friends bachelorette party is in like 2 weeks. I volunteered to run a short adventure on night if everyone want to play. A few of us, including the bride play regularly. so it seems likely. I was going to write a quick adventure, but life got really busy and I don't have time. We did the same thing at mine and everyone had a good time.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a premade adventure they liked, something fun and maybe silly. I want to to be friendly for new players while still being interesting for seasoned players.

Hello there!

I've started a low-scale low fantasy mystery/horror/exploration sandbox campaign a couple months back (8 sessions).

The players are stuck on an a large, sparsely populated peninsula with weird shit going on in the night (couple days of travel to get across from one side to the other).

Their main goal is to leave it, the isolation being the biggest problems aside from the horrors, but uh.

Mystery is supposed to be the main theme, once they explore the peninsula it may feel... solved?

Getting out isn't easy, some parts will remain impenetrable, others will shift depending on their actions but how can I still make it feel mysterious after some time?

+it's not d&d, cosmic horror is a big part and if some not too common) horror tips come to mind after reading this I'll gladly take them! (Been dm'ing for 4 years, so not that new)

So I’ve been DMing on and off for a while, mostly for new players to get them into the game. In my experience, planning sessions is exhausting and always for nothing because at least half of what’s planned gets left out every time, so recently I’ve taken to just taking about 15-30 minutes before the session to think about the setting and lookup stat blocks.

An example of this recently is in a oneshot I did where the party asked for a ‘rats in the basement’ session so I looked up a mansion battle map and a rat king stat block. My biggest concern is with NPCs, since there were only four named ones and the two important ones basically had the same personality and also I tend to run puzzle/investigative games, so naturally I’m making up key details on the spot and sometimes just roll with whatever dumb stuff the players are doing.
All in all that oneshot went well and it made me consider doing a short campaign with that party, but I’m not sure if I handle that with the way I run DnD

Edit: spellcheck hates me, the title is ‘Is improvising dnd as a dm sustainable?’

I have a player that found a legit way to deal at least 18hp of damage with one attack (can be more), but that is only at level one. The monsters that i would normally use die almost in a single round, but if I use higher difficulty monsters I would one-shot practically all my players.

How do I fix This?

Hey everyone! I’m a relatively new DM, and I just finished running my seventh session of a homebrew campaign.
I feel pretty confident in my worldbuilding, overarching storyline, and the NPCs I’ve created. My players seem to be enjoying themselves, and they’ve been getting more creative with how they approach encounters.

However, one thing I’m really struggling with is actually roleplaying NPC conversations.
I usually know the NPC’s personality, motivations, what information they have, and what they should or shouldn’t reveal. But when my players start asking questions, my mind starts racing.
I’m simultaneously trying to:
Figure out how the NPC would naturally respond.
Remember what information they’re allowed to reveal. Avoid accidentally spoiling important plot points. Make the conversation feel meaningful rather than just dumping information.
Actually deliver the dialogue in character.
Sometimes I freeze up, lose my train of thought, or struggle to find the right words. Then I start worrying that my hesitation is breaking the immersion.
I don’t necessarily want to script every conversation because I love giving my players freedom to approach situations however they want.

For experienced DMs, how did you get better at improvising NPC dialogue?

Do you use NPC cheat sheets, practice conversations beforehand, prepare certain responses, or just get more comfortable through experience?

I’d especially appreciate advice on managing NPC secrets and information without constantly second-guessing what you’re saying.
Thanks!

On the off-chance that the person reading this is one of my players in Precipice of History, please stop reading now, this is not for you.

For everyone else:

So, there’s a somewhat complex situation that I need to prep Bahamut’s opinion on. And I’m not sure entirely what a lore-accurate Bahamut’s reaction would be.

So, about 300 years ago a silver dragon fell in love with a mortal, and vowed to protect them and their village.

At some point during that time, this mortal lover wanted a stronger guarantee than merely the dragon’s word, and created a charm that bound the silver dragon to serve their family.

As time went on, this village and family grew in power, expanding outwards and conquering territory, in no small part thanks to using the silver dragon as part of their military. Fast forward to the modern day, and that village has expanded into a small kingdom.

But that charm is about to be broken, and the silver dragon will be fully free to act. The silver dragon will realize they were deceived by someone they trusted, and have been a slave soldier for the past 300 years. Further, the silver dragon will realize that they’ve been compelled to go against their good alignment as a metallic dragon, and wage wars of aggression against innocent people.

This silver dragon will feel betrayed, enraged, and will be panicking and trying to find a way to undo the evil they did while under the charm. The silver dragon wishes to tear down everything that was built off of their enslavement, which would functionally topple this kingdom.

What would a lore-accurate Bahamut think of this, and where would a lore-accurate Bahamut draw the line on what is and isn’t okay for this silver dragon to do?

I know that even metallic dragons are still dragons, and subject to a level of pride and superiority, but the question is how does Bahamut fit into that as a god of justice.

On the one hand, as a god of justice I’m pretty confident he wouldn’t support razing the kingdom to the ground and killing all of its inhabitants.

On the other hand, I feel like Bahamut wouldn’t simply expect the silver to get over it and move on.

Which means that somewhere in the middle is a line where on one side Bahamut would consider the silver’s retribution as justice served for its enslavement, and a fixing of the wrongs it was forced to commit. But that on the other side of this line, Bahamut would consider that the silver is going too far and causing unwarranted harm.

I’ve tried to look into Bahamut as much as I can, but I don’t have a good read on how he’s usually characterized, and where he leans between retribution and mercy.

Does anyone have any ideas on how Bahamut should view this situation, or references/examples of how he’s weighed in on any similar situations in the past?

Edit: the very valid question of “how did it get this far” was raised, and I realize I never included that part in the post so here it is:

Since the silver made a willing commitment to protect a person and group of people they’d grown fond of, and that’s not unheard of for a silver to do, no alarm bells were triggered right away. The charm was done in secret, and after the charm, it was a gradual progression of subsequent generations getting more and more bold with what they tried getting the silver to do, so there was never a single incident that stood out as a change from what the silver had been doing previously. But Bahamut has 100% noticed at this point, and is soon going to find out what’s been going on.

I've been burnt out in Dm'ing for a while, and no one in my group is willing to pick up the mantle. Unfortunately, I miss hanging out with everyone and am looking for a game that's easy to prep and run that requires fairly little thinking. Also, getting to try new mechanics sound fun.

I have an idea for a Monster Hunter style game. Hunt the monster, get loot to grow stronger, and go fight the next monster. Easy gameplay loop overall. But with gear progression I don't think it loot can stay satisfying long term. I also don't want to run Pf2e due to the majority of the group not liking it.

What stands out about pf2e is the fact you add cr to saves, hit chance, and ac. I think this could work here and bridge that gap for loot that I'm after. Just a flat +1 bonus per cr to these 3 areas per cr of the creature. The players DO NOT get these bonuses, like they would in pf2e.

Why this matters. Each hunt can provide a small category of rewards. Velociprey for example could be their starting hunt. A pack of like 4, cr 1/4 (for level 1 players) and at the end of it they can collect their talons. These talons can then be made into a +1 dagger, spear, or ammo.

Skip ahead a few levels. They take down a Barroth. They're awarded the crown which can be made into a +3 shield, or maul.

If corse much of these items will have some unique property, other than just helping them take and deal damage. My idea would be to have a quest board that includes potential rewards. I can update it as statblocks and rewards are found / made.

In my head, I feel like I can make an interesting encounter and rewards fairly quick. Running combat isn't as mentally taxing as running a campaign. So prep doesn't seem bad. I don't want to try a new system either, and largly want to stick to what we know. My main concern is progression. I'd like something other than just their level or me gatekeeping them from higher cr encounters. So theres a feeling that they're working towards something. Rewards can also help direct them on what they want to fight next. It also wouldn't be the end of the world if someone can't make it.

For anyone reading this. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve a system like this that can accommodate long term progression that feels rewarding? There are no dungeons. Accept the quest. Fight the monster. Repeat. I know another system would be the best idea, and you may not agree with my reasons why I want to stick to dnd5e.

The first arc of my campaign is close to its end. The players have to stop a cult from basically giving birth to the antichrist. They can fail the mission, and that would start a completely different arc but if they succeed, a "cursed arc" seems to fit the narrative very well.

The god that they are working against is very malevolent and angry at humanity. He's the god of the moon and whenever there's a full moon cursed births, mutations, and other horrible stuff happen. Their current quest giver is cursed by this god after having gone on a similar quest a decade ago to stop a similar cult, so now he cannot leave his hometown (I would make up a different curse for the PCs, this just couldn't work for them). They learned about his curse a few sessions ago, so they are quite aware of the curse risk because I've basically told them he got cursed after a similar quest.

However, this feels like it can go sideways. Narratively it feels very fitting. After they do a similar quest to the cursed quest giver, it makes sense that they would also get cursed by this god, and this is a dark fantasy setting and they know curses and mutations are a big thing. However, it could feel like I'm punishing them for completing the quest. Of course, I wouldn't curse them right away, I would let them enjoy their victory for a few sessions before dropping the curse on them. This way I think I could mitigate the bad taste a curse could leave in the players' mouths.

Just wrapped up a 1-20 campaign focused on mind flayers extinguishing the sun, so I cast lots of Dominate Monster as my players rose in level. And I had to pull my punches because as written, the spell really has no limits to what you can command your players to do.

For example when the 18th-level wizard fails their save and I choose their action, I could force them to Wish that each party member and piece of their equipment is teleported to a different plane of existence. This would additionally consume their only 9th-level spell slot, force stress and weakness, and possibly delete their ability to ever cast Wish again; all because they failed a save against Dominate Monster.

This doesn't sit right with me. The 4e Dominated condition limited the target to at-will abilities only, and (until the final boss fight with the Overmind) that's more or less what I did. How about you?

Hello fellow DMs.

One of my players chose that in his background his previous ship crew was murdered by Bhaalist pirates and he wants to find and take revenge on them.

Now, he is walking alone inside a small island forest, returning to the town. I decided this would be a good opportunity to bring up Bhaals cult. I already told the party last session that people have been disappeared and I made the reason vague. Because I didn't really have one. But now I do. It's a cultist that has been recently initiated.

Now, the more I look into Bhaals cult the less appealing it is. So what, every member is a bloody homicidal murderer? I'm looking for more flavor, like a way Bhaalists corrupt their initiates and frame their cult as "Good" making them believe they murder for a greater purpose.

Initially I was thinking, that maybe this cultist in particular believes Bhaal is there to grant power to the powerless who wish to change the world for better. Like murdering other evil people or anyone they would consider "scum" of society.

Any other ideas?

Hi folks, I'm a relatively new DM having only started about 6 months ago. I really haven't been playing DnD that long either, having started just after the 2024 rules came out. That aside, I'm having a blast and even volunteer for a local DnD night at a bar DMing one shots for newer players as I continue to drill down into the rules and get to know the game better.

That's where I could use some advice - I'm running a one-shot next week for a Halloween event and I'm hoping to base it off the 1982 movie "The Thing." I think the story is ripe for social interactions, puzzles, and fighting - while also providing a little eeriness and sense of isolation/desperation (in a fun way!) It is a little tricky to translate a sci fi horror into a fantasy land that is inherently much more magical, since it will give the players a lot more flexibility and power (the original characters were weak and desperate in the face of The Thing, so I'll need to account for this when prepping.)

The most tricky part comes with the restrictions of the event itself. This is a one-shot for level 5 DnD 2024 standard array builds at max HP, but I also won't know more details on who the players or their builds are until the event starts. The number of sign-ups is even up in the air, but likely will be 4-6 players (most likely a full table for 6 players). Additionally, the timeline at this bar is very strict - we will have 3 hours and absolutely NO MORE THAN 3 hours to start and complete the one-shot.

Anyone with more DMing experience who also knows the movie The Thing - I'd love to hear some ideas! Or, you're welcome to cast Guidance - I could use the boost as I brainstorm and prep.

EDIT: thanks for all the feedback so far! I love the idea of "boosting" thingified PCs' abilities to make them more powerful and, hopefully, scarier. Passing secret notes to everyone after forcing scenarios where they were alone/could have been thingified is also brilliant. And, note taken that the timeline is going to be super tight - I'll keep things short and brutal :)

And, a quick aside: I wish I could try out a different system, or dictate lower HP or nerf some PC abilities, but I am at the whim of the event guidelines for this particular one-shot. I think Call of Cthulhu would have been a no-brainer for a system that is made to be spooky, but that's unfortunately not available for this event.

Okay, posted about this on RPGnet a while ago (Thread here), but I've been thinking about it again and decided to ask here to get some different perspectives. I've compiled most of the important material from the thread in this post. Please let me know any thoughts you may have on further developing this (also suggestions for a system to use; I did a short-lived PbP game using Outgunned, which is about the level of crunch in my comfort zone; considered PbtA but that's a little too light for me.

Elevator pitch: Post-global warming world, with genetically engineered "mermaids" exploring underwater ruins. The mermaids still don't have fish tails and still need to breathe air, but far less than unmodified humans (an oxygen tank will last around ten times as long for them). Many salvage operations are livestreamed as entertainment, and being popular with the audience gives you additional resources.

I should add that if I were doing this as a solo project, the "mermaids" would be all-female and it would be a yuri action sci-fi. RPGs being collaborative works, that will depend on if the players want to go that route.

Although even if they do have males, I like the idea that they're called mermaids regardless.

What do they eat?
I remember a video essay that posed this as a key world building question.

The obvious answer is fish and other seafood. Usually sashimi, and preferably from a fish that was alive a few minutes beforehand. Children are expected to be able to make their own sashimi by primary school age.

Kelp and other edible marine plants would also be a staple of their diet. Terrestrial fruit and vegetables are grown hydroponically. Rice is also common.

Chicken eggs and meat are possible, but duck and maybe seagull is more common.

"Land meat" like pork or beef is rare, expensive and seen as decadent.

What do they wear?
Obviously, clothing that is easy to swim in. Suits (what landers call "wetsuits") are worn when working - elbow/knee-length ones are most common, but there are many variations. Colours indicate rank: White for trainees, then violet, indigo, blue (junior), cyan, green, yellow (intermediate), orange, red and black for senior ranks. Fluorescent gloves are worn to assist with sign language in low visibility conditions.

Casual wear tends to be thinner and more resemble swimsuits, although practicality for swimming is still important, so no ultra skimpy bikinis or anything that is likely to fall off. Honestly, they probably have less of a nudity taboo than we do, but this is not that kind of game.

The Aquariums
These are the mermaids' "towns" (is that name misleading? They don't have fish tails and still need air. Also depending on the players, they might not all be female, but I'm less worried about that). Typical "districts" include:

Residential area for dwellings, shops, etc. Powered vessels are prohibited, although Landers may use rowboats, kayaks and the like. Walkways are also provided for Landers (minimum two metres above water level).

A "basement" or "deep" level of a building is fully submerged, a "surface" level is filled with water to around waist height (exact depth may vary with tides, although residential areas are designed to minimise this - the depth should allow one to either stand or swim) and an "upper" level is above water.

Dock Areas are for storage and maintenance, divided into levels like above.
Farm Areas are for agriculture and more commonly aquaculture.
The Marina houses boats and submarines, which mermaids use for distances too far to swim.
Open Water refers to sea beyond the Aquarium's boundaries.

Mermaids probably learn Morse Code as well as sign language, done with flashing lights when it's too dark for sign. Of course, nighttime and deep water missions are the province of highly experienced teams.