Running D&D is often an exercise in mashing another genre into the structure of “a D&D campaign.” Here are five weird ones to try.
D&D is ripe for genre mashups. Often in spite of itself. Because the rules of D&D do one thing, and that’s “play a D&D campaign.” However, a lot of DMs will often stretch and twist those rules to do other things, usually involving genres that were never intended to be in D&D. I mean that’s kinda Dimension 20’s whole deal (just done exceedingly well and with a lot of deep work and research).
One need look no further than Ravenloft for an example of this. That’s an official example of D&D and horror mashed up and how it can give everyone a fun time. And certainly there are D&D campaigns with elements of Westerns and Action movies and so on. But what about if you wanna get weird with D&D? Well, you might try one of these unlikely genres.
Summer Camp Film
There are so many summer camp movies out there. From kid-friendly films like Camp Nowhere to more comedic films like Wet Hot American Summer or Adventureland. They all follow the same structure, following a group of people over the course of a magical summer.
Now imagine that with like bugbears and sahuagin raiders. And the adventurer’s camp across the lake that are kind of bullies but also where your adventurer finds a bourgeoning crush? What are characters like Elminster and Mordenkainen if not the weird old camp counselor who just wants to get high and doesn’t care as long as everyone’s alive at the end?
Sports Movie
Or how about the sports movie? This can be a short campaign or even just an adventure. Take the plot of any sports movie and put the adventurers as unlikely underdogs or misfits trying to accomplish something. Sprinkle in some rich, well-to-do rivals who are also delving the same dungeon, or who always look down on the party, and you’ve basically got everything you need.
Just turn a Short Rest into an inspiring Locker Room speech before the big game/fight with the dungeon’s guardian, and you know exactly what to do. You could even borrow the tournament scoring system from something like Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and track the “big game” as it happens.
Stoner Comedy
Try putting the high in high fantasy. There are so many ways to get blitzed in the Forgotten Realms alone; btu even if you’re playing in a custom campaign world, you could easily make up a fantasy drug. Your DM probably already has, and it’s probably called Spice.
Either way, the party are the lovable stoners just trying to get by, while the big bad evil guy wants to make it illegal to spice in public. Or to close down the adventure castle where the Gelatinous Cube made out of LSD lives, or whatever. And then hijinks ensue as the heroes just try to get to where they can take a Long Rest and watch the Hypnotic Pattern again.
Submarine Movie
This is probably an adventure or short little campaign at most. But D&D has rules for warships and spelljammers and airships. There are even actual submersible spelljamming ships, like the Turtle Ship, so you don’t even have to kind of pretend
You can take any of these and overlay the rules of a submarine film – lots of patient scanning for things out in Astral Space. Instead of Sonar you have Detect Magic and Detect Object spells. Then it’s really all about the personalities bubbling over with each other in a confined, enclosed space that you can’t easily leave. Plus the DM gets to use all the sea monsters they never otherwise get to.
My Dinner With Andre
I honestly don’t know what this one would look like, but I am mentioning it here just in case someone out there is brilliant and crazy enough to try it. If you do, please let me know how it turns out.
Now get out there and diversify your characters!
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Source: Bell of Lost Souls
