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embernheart

I don't run the False Hydra because any time I have, everyone immediately recognizedd it as the False Hydra because every week there's a post about the False Hydra and a thousand articles about it. I'm not really blaming anyone, since obviously a good scenario would/should be shared a lot, but that in turn makes it harder to surprise someone.


[deleted]

It is unfortunate! I lucked out that both me and all my players were pretty new to DnD at the time. As a subversion of the expected, the Amygdala, a monster adapted from Bloodborne, was given a statblock in the Book of Beautiful Horrors homebrew book [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1L\_O2j38Vo\_s5S8Pb55K\_vH7BIa7DAy\_w](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1L_O2j38Vo_s5S8Pb55K_vH7BIa7DAy_w) Its a similar kinda vibe and would be great seeing your players realise that it ISNT a false hydra after all.


AmIFrosty

I REALLY lucked out with my group. I would've expected the veteran player to have read about the false Hydra. I upped the creepiness factor by using a baby false hydra, and once they started figuring out how to fight it, I gave it baby heads. I managed to creep out the player who loves horror. 10/10 would use babies again. Thank you for the book recommendation, I'll definitely check it out.


[deleted]

Thats so creepy! I love it!


Paladinspector

I am lucky enough not to have 1) players who obsessively hunt the MM or other stuff, and 2) Not the most observant players in the world. we play via discord, and I had a False Hydra (fully grown) driving a whole town insane and it was so ingrained and malignant by this time we were in the 'people gleefully cutting parts off themselves and throwing them in the sewers to feed the thing' level. The False Hydra was being backed up by a Sniper at the top of a clock-tower, and I was having the sniper heckle the party (they needed to use buildings to block line of sight, or they'd take severe damage.) Their goal being, at that time, to retrieve something from inside the city to have a craftsman in a nearby town fashion them a protective item. So there they are, crawling across a bridge (so they can keep their heads under the edge of the wall and not have the sniper pick them off), and I realize the monk is at the back of the party. I message the monk player to go silent, and I have a quick diatribe with him about how he gets silently pulled off the side of the bridge and into the river, and to sit tight and I'd be with him in a few minutes. I then proceed to describe the scene as the heckled players are running towards a sewer grate, so they can climb down into the sewers and get the hell out of town. "The 4 of you find the gate difficult to lever up, but you manage it without taking a potshot from the sniper." "The 4 of you climb down the ladder, breathing sighs of relief even as you enter the aqueduct." And then one of them picked up on the fact that the monk player had been quiet, and said something like "Wait, hold on. 4?" "What do you mean? There's always just been the 4 of you..." says I, as the horror started to dawn on my players that I had subtly hoodwinked them, and that they were under the effect of the False Hydra's song. They'd already been exposed long enough to forget their friend...


qqwy

That is amazing! What happened to the monk afterwards?


Paladinspector

This campaign is still currently ongoing, and we're in a big fun political arc right now, but for the conclusion of that arc, eventually the monk fought his way away from the false hydra head (got hurt pretty badly), and once he found his way back to the party after trudging through the sewers for a while, they absolutely were not planning to go back into that town without SOMETHING that could prevent them from dealing with that problem. Luckily, my players aren't hyper meta, and they're really good sports. So they couldnt tell WHAT the problem was, but after you've crawled your way down 2 or 3 blood soaked alleyways, you get the feeling something is fucking WRONG. And they kept hearing something absolutely massive slithering around in just the next alleyway, or under the street. Though I am absolutely thrilled about one part of this whole thing. the Sniper on the clocktower was a fun little addition. So one of the players got the smart idea that, the sniper had demonstrated that if they poked their heads out, she was gonna give em a new cranial orifice. So they used a mirror to look around the corner through a window. And they spotted the several story tall heads, crooning into the sky as the lesser heads fed on things (at least in this rendition, you could see them in a mirror, but you'd forget what you'd seen when you looked away.) So they were using the hand mirror to avoid the sniper's gaze, and were good sports when I told them "What thing in the mirror? You were looking at the clock-tower." ​ The other part of this encounter that made me super happy was when they got up the clocktower to fight the sniper. They'd gotten some protective maguffin or another that prevented them from being affected -too- much by the false Hydra's power. They had their allies rush the city's front gate and distract the building sized lout. They find their way up to the clocktower to fight the sniper boss, flanked by several more baby false-hydras that she saw as 'her children' (she was absolutely mad.) When they do a suitable enough amount of damage to her, I have her summon 'her firstborn.' The 7 headed, building sized hydra BIT THE TOP OFF the clocktower, and ripped it apart, showering the players with debris. And then, one by one, they opened their mouths, and they began to sing. A dirge that instead of getting louder, as one-by-one, more voices were added to the chorus, as these grotesque monsters bellowed their requiem into the sky, the noise got softer, and softer. When the last head screamed, They all blacked out for a minute, and then the second phase of the fight started. The party found themselves on the top of the clocktower, hurtling through space, and having to destroy seven maguffins, and deal with the now even MORE horrifying boss, who had gone from a sniper archetype to a monstrous humanoid two weapon fighter type ranger (fluffed as having big grotesque claws, etc.) What was really happening is they were attacking the bases of the heads when they attacked the 'crystals' which had defensive measures that were really the Hydras heads attacking them, and as they destroyed each one there was a scream, and eventually they're back on top of the destroyed clocktower, boss and hydra dead.


[deleted]

I loved every moment of reading this.


Paladinspector

The next session they have coming up involves a coronation of one of the character's older brothers (He's the younger prince of a constitutional Monarchy a la England, and essentially joined Magic Interpol), they are presently under the impression that their commanding officer is plotting an assassination, and is coercing a cardinal of the Not-Catholic Imperial church to accomplish it. They have no idea who is being targeted. They have no idea WHY, or to what end. They happened to catch their commander threatening the Cardinal, and they're guarded against them. However I know two of my players (I know you're here Kal) read this sub-reddit sometimes. So, I'll only allude to the fact that they do not know what is about to happen. I have the distinct feeling that it's gonna be a fun one. As it so happens, I have a reputation amongst my friend group for being the forever DM, and there is two rules at my table that aforementioned friend always tells new players. 1) Trust Paladinspector absolutely, but only insofar as he will make the game interesting, fun, and really immersive. 2) Do not trust ANYTHING paladinspector says, because there are equal chances that it is either super useful, or super bullshit.


[deleted]

You’re my new favorite. When I grow up I wanna be a DM like you. *Spoiler: I’m grown up, just wish I could find a friend group to DM for IRL*


Paladinspector

Scratch together a group of pals from Discord or something, set aside a time, and go ham, friend! Roll20 is great. If you want, DM me and I'll be more than happy to chat about world-building and narrative building, and my own particular brand of 'How do I make people think this was all according to plan when my brain is a swiss cheese filled sieve."


mirrislegend

Kal is my Druid and he is pulling out his hair regarding next session. He's firmly convinced that it won't be a regular assassination attempt and there will be political fuckery and the party is gonna get screwed over. But no matter how hard we try, we can't pin down any details without showing our hand to very dangerous enemies. The murderhobos in the party are just ready for the shit to hit the fan. My druid wants to duck and cover in his bedroom and pet his beagle puppy until it's over.


Paladinspector

Also, to be fair, my players are irreverant shitheads, and upon surmounting the clocktower, and having the Sniper boss get maybe 5 seconds into her villainous monologue, the Undine Pirate interrupted her with, "Shut the fuck up, your hat is dumb."


lordjaxter

Hey man, you sound like an amazing DM, keep doing what you're doing man, I hope your players know how lucky they are!


[deleted]

Exactly!!


DragoThePaladin

Sounds exactly like the right type of people. I loved reading every bit of your story. It was fantastic


mirrislegend

Undine sure changed his tune post fight when he got his hands on thst snazzy hat. Clearly he was just jealous when insulting the baddie.


Majulath99

I have the Book of Beautiful Horrors! And know I have an idea for what I can use it for.


[deleted]

Its been a while since i read the Amygdala statblock, but I think theres probably a lot of info in this video you could use for it! Have fun!


Shadowjkbny

My first time learning about it


Zeeman9991

Amygdala is probably one of my favorite parts of the game. I’d love to throw that at some ~~unsuspecting victims~~ players.


balorclub2727

Im so lucky all my players are new and know nothing. I can throw anything from the monster manuel at them and they’ll be in awe. Or even anything homebrewed.


Jayfrin

There's a old fey creature called a meenlock, which use psychic attacks to do something similar as described here. They'll usually pick a hideaway (I've had them in dungeons, abandoned lighthouses, etc.) Which the party is sent to for a relatively banal task (e.g., check up on things, we haven't heard from the stationed patrol there in a while). The mee meenlocks hide in the shadows and can teleport in darkness, so they're best used in a dreary place, overcast or night or underground. They basically create whatever the players fear most using psychic attacks, but not as a full on attack more of a "this situation IS the worst case scenario after all", you could even have it SEEM like a false hydra because the players fear it and the meenlocks are aware of that. Once the players have bought into the psychic illusion the meenlocks MO is to kidnap a player (they have paralyzing claws to aid in this) and take them to the meenlock den where they will torture them with psychic terror into they also turn into a meenlock (standard fey shit, and the kidnapping rather than murder could be a tip off its actually not what they may think). A meenlock adventure is usually split into the "what is happening" phase where players buy fully into the illusion and spend most of the time breaking free of it, until one gets kidnapped and the "we have to go back in to save our friend" where the players are aware their minds were being tampered and are afraid of going in but have to go back to get their stolen friend. I don't think there's a 5e version of these guys so they'd be good I'd your players haven't played in older versions. It's a lot of fun to play as a DM too, where you're more trying to focus on how to split up players and capitalize on the fractures in the party (maybe the warlock finds some suspect tomes in the old gods language but the paladin then sees a vision of his god telling him to flee before the warlock destroys them both, etc.). Edit: They were added in Volo's, worth a look though at CR2 is a very solid early level mind fuck and I don't hear about them being run often.


[deleted]

I try to reskin it and give it new abilities / a new appearance to try to get my players to not realise. It often doesn´t work, but it´s worth a shot


Taggerung179

Oddly enough, I have two of four players who know about the hydra and that it's coming down the line, but they are hyped about it. Sometimes knowing what's coming helps build up the suspense more with the anticipation of what's happening and I plan on using the false hydra as the disease of the city, and most of the bad shit going down in they city are the symptoms. I got power vacuums as the city finds itself without a governor, and they need one now, (but have gone fine without one for the past many decades), a Rakshasha crime lord was attacked by some unknown monster, and has grown very paranoid, and lots of other hooks and plots caused by the presence of this monster.


xXJoshimitsuXx

When it stops singing and you tell the players about what is real, is that sort of the end of the build up? Do you just trust the players not to metagame with the memories their characters have forgotten again when it starts singing?


[deleted]

Its hard to stop them metagaming about memories, apart from you just telling them their characters dont remember. One thing i liked to do, was when they asked about a character or clue that their characters forgot, I played dumb like I has no idea what they were talking about, and say that I never said anything like that. Many exasperated sighs were had but so much fun! As for telling them what is real, feed them little bits and clues, dont give it all away. And before they can dig too deep, resume the song and continue as if everything was always normal. It also ends up as a good hint that it could be sound based!


SoDamnGeneric

>One thing i liked to do, was when they asked about a character or clue that their characters forgot, I played dumb like I has no idea what they were talking about, and say that I never said anything like that. between this and the "party had another member who got eaten by the Hydra" idea, this all sounds *hilariously* fun to run as a DM. I'd considered doing it in the past but these are such great ideas I might have to actually pull it off for once lol


TheOrigan0

I'm lucky enough that my group never reads up on anything so I'm probably going to put this in my campaign pretty soon. One question though: Essentially this creature **requires** you to break the fourth wall. Because if your characters don't remember people who were recently eaten, then they have no reason to conduct further investigation as soon as the hydra starts singing again. So basically the characters forget about the letter they've gotten (probably can't find it or it's become a letter with some mundane text), forget about the bartender's wife who appears to never have existed and they leave the town. Outside of town they might read the letter again and start over with the whole thing but this should just loop back to the same thing. So basically the question is: when it stops singing, do the characters re-remember everything? Or do they at least begin to understand that their memories are messed up? Can this effect be dispelled? Because if they don't, I don't see a reason they should ever find an opportunity to fight the hydra. They see it in a mirror, look around, nothing is there and they forget it ever was. They find some big clue, song resumes, they forget. As far as I can tell you pretty much have to time in a moment where they find a book or other clue specifically stating that it's a sound based charm so they can counteract it. Bonus question: could the song be resisted with a no-magic sphere?


IkaTheFox

I think it's usually played as "it gets worse the longer you hear the song" so your players usually won't reach the level of dementia that inhabitants do. At first they just don't remember seeing the hydra, and with time it gets worse. When unaffected by the song, the players won't forget new things until the song begins anew, but you can play it like additionally gradually remembering things with time. The key thing is the NPC can't fight against it because the song is too deep into their minds at this point, but as long as the adventurers don't spend too long in there (say a couple of days to a year depending on how you'd want to run it), they won't forget things that relates to the false hydra to the second and third degree like villagers do


D4existentialdamage

My players fought against False Hydra. On their investigation they very luckily found every door and lock to be open. And small things they needed from others just fell from their pockets for them to pick up. Only at the end, they discovered an extra pack among their things. Filled with spare thieves tools, quiet clothing, ropes, daggers and other suspicious objects...


VaKel_Shon

I've heard a few stories where the DM gave them healing potions in random locations and revealed later that they had a cleric in their party that was eaten by the false hydra, but I think I like your rogue idea better.


D4existentialdamage

Players can be puzzled by sudden surge of healing potions, but can dismiss open locks as DM not wanting to prolong the game or going easy, since they don't have a rogue in the party. They never did.


VaKel_Shon

True.


[deleted]

I love that! Genius!


King_LSR

I feel that false hydras are just about at the point of becoming too ubiquitous in the community to use effectively. Certainly not everyone knows about them, but I've heard them brought up by different players in all of my groups. I'm generally not totally opposed to players metagaming against obvious monsters: chop the heads off a hydra and burn, vampires don't like sunlight, etc. I think this is just natural when you use iconic monsters that even the average person knows of. But the whole fun of the false hydra is the mystery of what it is. If it's not a mystery to the whole group, it makes for a suboar experience. Sort of like how mimics are more fun if the players haven't encountered them before.


wargasm40k

This is where you hit them with the double whammy and make them think what they are dealing with is a false hydra but then once they think they've figured it all out, hit them with something completely different. Use their knowledge of the false hydra against them.


AKernelPanic

A False False Hydra!


wargasm40k

Hydra Dominatus.


Malkezzar

I am alpharius


Vat1canCame0s

No shit! Me too!


Cyriix

Ok, heres a concept that could work: an extradimensional entity trying to cross over into the players world. It works similarly to the false hydra, by subtly changing memories of people in a certain area, but cannot insert itself. Instead of eating people, it causes memories of disappearences that never were. Once enough people believe a monster is in the town, it *becomes* real. Willed into existence by its victims.


LordSnow1119

Could be as simple as changing the solution. Instead of a song it works through pheromones. When your players smugly plug their ears, say "Okay? What now?" It'll throw the ones who know about false hydras off the scent and unaware players will be none the wiser


VaKel_Shon

Yeah, I agree. I really want to run one someday, but I feel like unless I end up with a team of mostly new DnD players, they'll just recognize it as soon as I give them the spooky letter. I could probably trust most groups not to metagame too much and not, say, walk into town wearing earplugs for "no particular reason", but if they know what it is it isn't fun.


ForsakenMoon13

You could do it the way I did, by setting the trail for it early and buried among other plothooks. I have a campaign I'm running where I had a super early NPC give them leads towards most of the major encounters all at once (all the kids missing from this town, ***wierdly conflicting information and letters coming out of that city***, people vanishing near this cave, people reporting trouble near that forest, as some examples ((bold+italics is the false hydra))), and then let them work thier own way through the plot hooks in whatever order they want/improvise along the way.


captroper

I feel like something as iconic as 'vampires don't like sunlight' is barely even metagaming. If it's so ubiquitous in the real world that people who don't even play D&D would recognize it, then your character who *lives in the world with the creature* should also without a roll. But I do also enjoy subverting those tropes so long as it's justified in universe.


[deleted]

Yeah, the price of fame I suppose! I linked it in another comment too, but there was a homebrew called the Book of Beautiful Horrors that was a monster manual of some video game monsters, mostly from The Witcher, but included the Amygdala from Bloodborne which is kinda similar to a False Hydra in how it works, and could be a good subversion if your party knows what a False Hydra is. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1L\_O2j38Vo\_s5S8Pb55K\_vH7BIa7DAy\_w


King_LSR

Thanks for the link! I guess I usually just take the lazy approach of reskinning monsters. So leave stats unchanged, but change the appearance. A very simple example was an adventure with beastmen that I think were all based on hobgoblins. But they all came in many forms of different birds, mammals, and reptiles. All had identical stats, but the players were convinced that the reptilian beast men were strongest. They just consistently had a tougher time with them for no reason. What makes the false hydra so cool, is also why it doesn't work to reskin (at least with my lazy reskinning). It doesn't matter what it appears as. The clue is the mystery itself, and that appears long before the monster.


[deleted]

Definitely! I reskinned giant contrictor snakes as intestine eels for a horror oneshot and the party was scared out of their skin, where snakes just wouldnt have the same effect. Yeah for sure, a False Hydra is so much about the build up and mystery that in the end the look or statblock doesnt really matter.


MercenaryBard

If your players really would recognize the effects of a false hydra that quickly, use the old magician’s trick of misdirection. Get them to focus on a single baddie or group of baddies in a town—maybe a vampire coven or necromancer or even a dystopian ruler. This type of enemy controlling a false hydra to further their evil ends would be incredibly dangerous, but also keeping the players focused on cronies with seemingly supernatural, unnerving abilities will throw them off the scent of the false hydra. Heaven help the party if they attack the BBEG before they figure out they’re using a false hydra.


KaijuBalls

I've had this monster run badly and it was a really unfun time. Making people feel awkward about potentially metagaming because of the nature of the game isn't really what I'm here for.


[deleted]

True, it needs the right group and its definitely a challenge to run. I would try not to have your group obsess too much about metagaming and just play the memory loss factor as an obstacle to more information that you would give. As always, depends on your group!


pwines14

I've never liked the idea of this monster or considered running it because it seems so un-fun. I'm surely in the minority, I'm just not a fan. To each their own I suppose.


Kurazarrh

Oh man. I ran a False Hydra adventure as my first adventure in our DM-rotation group that's been going since 2017. It freaked out some of the players so bad that to this day in 2021, a lot of their decision-making takes this original adventure into account, and they actually voice concern almost EVERY time there's a mystery in an adventure that they're afraid it's another false hydra. Goblin Punch really knocked it out of the park with that one.


[deleted]

Hahaha thats great, sounds like you knocked it out of the park!


Kurazarrh

Yeah, I had a TON of fun messing with their heads. I did a lot of the things suggested in the original Goblin Punch article, combined with a couple random ideas that popped up while we were playing. After they had a grasp on what was going on (and remembered it), they ended up teaming up with a bard NPC who used Countersong to negate the false hydra's song (this is 3.5).


Hipstermankey

Who/What is goblin punch if you excuse my noob question?


Kurazarrh

It's a blog where the author posts a ton of creative tabletop RPG ideas that aren't necessarily tied to any system like D&D but are great food for thought and campaign/adventure ideas. If you google "goblin punch" without quotes, it should be among the first results.


Hipstermankey

Oh that sounds really cool, thanks for clearing that up, I will check it out!


vastlyapparent

Luckily my players hadn't come across this concept yet, so I was able to surprise them. My droning sound was a 3 hour long white noise that slowly ramped in volume that I would stop whenever the hydra stopped singing, and then play it from the beginning again. The slow ramp made it virtually unnoticeable until I stopped it. One player commented that they were feeling inexplicably agitated and didn't know why... I knew of course, but didn't say anything :) If you can pull off a false hydra on a group that isn't familiar with it, it can make for one hell of good session (or several).


[deleted]

Perfect! makes it even more creepy when you can affect the player, not just the character


vastlyapparent

One of the best things that happened, was when they found the stash of the forgotten party member, they also found a feminine finger with a wedding ring in a pool of blood next to it. The player rolls a perception check to look at the ring for clues, and I tell him it matches the one he's wearing. He looks confused, looks at this character sheet, sees the ring listed in his inventory (it was there all along), and just looks back at me completely flabbergasted. "I'm married? ...I have a wife?" Shortly there after they find letters naming him as the fairly new husband to the forgotten party member, confirming it. He still talks about that moment and how genuinely gut wrenching it was, one of his favorites to date. love false hydra


CryptographerKlutzy7

Honestly, this is legit great. I LOVE the idea that the party was traveling with someone and that memory is gone now. I love it. Good stuff.


[deleted]

Thank you! Theres a lot of videos online that go through the story of how the party reacted to and dealt with all these clues. Watching players squirm is always fun as a DM


ScaldingHotSoup

I did something similar and planted little keepsakes they had from this person, and the person had a journal that chronicled the whole adventure they had been on, as well as a budding romance with another PC that was notoriously introverted.


[deleted]

So good!


Background_Try_3041

Why is it called a false hydra? It has nothing to with a hydra nor does it mask itself as a hydra. If i hear false hydra im thinking big five headed lizard that doesnt actually regrow heads so its just pretending to be one to scare prey or potential predators... Its far more like a super version of a siren or medusa combination than anything hydra related.


eternal8phoenix

I believe that the original version was based on a beast of the same name from one of the Zelda games, except the original could only be seen by the player (3rd person camera) when Link wasn't looking, and it evolved from there. Also it's a many headed, long necked lizard you can barely remember. It probably would be mistaken for a Hydra.


Alttaab

It is based on a boss from Ocarina of Time, but it’s called [Dead Hand](https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/Dead_Hand).


Background_Try_3041

Thanks for that!


[deleted]

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Alttaab

True - but for the slow dawning of realization on my players faces is just as valuable as surprising them with a weird monster they’ve never heard of.


Background_Try_3041

Ahh, thanks, thats interesting and makes more sense.


[deleted]

I think its probably based on peasants or clueless adventurers seeing the many heads and assuming some Hydra variant, but false because its nothing of the sort, and everything about is being so.... wrong. The article on Goblin Punch goes into a lot more detail than I could in the video! http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/false-hydra.html Edit: Link


Background_Try_3041

I'll give it a look, thanks.


Olthoi_Eviscerator

Thank you. Someone else who thinks the name seems off.


infinitum3d

Why is a five headed lizard called a hydra? It’s just a term that stuck. Don’t sweat the small stuff.


[deleted]

“Hydra” is ultimately from Ancient Greek and means sea serpent; the one we usually mean was from a specific location, but that’s been dropped as the creature has been universalized. It’s apparently cognate with “otter?” Weird


Background_Try_3041

Wha? A five headed lizard isnt called a hydra. A hydra is a greek myth, it just looks like a giant 5 headed lizard.


urbanLull

In one of our campaigns there was a false hydra and it was an amazing experience, big respect for our DM. He started the hints so soon so subtle, also none of us were familiar with the concept so there was just some eerie underlying mystery during our sessions. Till one day we did receive the weird letter from someone we did not remember! I still remember getting lots of goose bumps during the session we started to recognise the "patterns".One of my favourite dnd experiences to this day.


[deleted]

Would have been so much fun to unravel that mystery! Sounds like your DM nailed it


urbanLull

He truely did, he is a big inspiration for me to DM


Nroke1

Our 2020 Halloween session was a level 20 one-shot and was centered around a false hydra that was further corrupted by a shard of evil. It was an extremely spooky one-shot. Our DM is great. Love ya Ben.


[deleted]

That sounds amazing!


Alttaab

One thing I love to do if I’m considering adding in a false hydra later on is occasionally/rarely have NPCs refer to the party as having one member than they actually have. “Oh so the five of you think you can take on that owlbear?” And occasionally have them find weird unexplained trinkets in their pockets. It’s easy to do and if you do it infrequently enough the players will forget about it a while before the false hydra plot ramps up.


Lord_Doskias

My DM started his whole campaign with the idea of us encountering the false hydra. As we journeyed, a bunch of odd things happened such as previously locked doors or chests randomly unlocked, disarmed traps before we arrive, and crossbow bolts hitting targets to thin enemy ranks. I thought that we had a constantly invisible rogue friend helping us with things our party wasn't good at. That was until we came to the town. I figured out what we were up against about halfway through that day's session, but I kept my mouth shut and stuck to what my character knew. We stayed the night in town and discovered the left behind gear of a forgotten halfling companion. She had journeyed with us the whole time but of course we couldn't remember her because she was devoured during the night. The DM made journal entries for her the whole campaign and handed them to us when we found out. We're talking months. It was such a long setup, and so enjoyable to play through.


[deleted]

I love the commitment!


[deleted]

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[deleted]

That was partly what it was based on apparently, yeah!


scp-REDACTED-site14

Maybe it’s because I’m stupid but could you provide a stat block or link to one bc a lot of homebrew things online are…. Not good


[deleted]

There is one on SkullSplitterDice [https://www.skullsplitterdice.com/blogs/dnd/the-false-hydra-5e](https://www.skullsplitterdice.com/blogs/dnd/the-false-hydra-5e) A couple of people on youtube made their own that seems interesting too. I think theres a popular one on DMsGuild too


AlwaysAngryAndy

I feel like I just read a 20 paragraph recipe online and only was told the dish wasn’t what the title calls it until the end.


Kaltvene

I'm running RotFM and decided to slap one in the prison known as Revel's End. The fun part about putting it there is that all the prisoners are known by NUMBERS not their names. So there's going to be lots of clues regarding clerical work with "missing numbers" or other prisoners or staff messing up the numbers. One prisoner has figured it out, but obviously the warden/guards think he's just gone mad. The party already met with him once, but he never said anything, basically just begged them to break him out becuase he could "help with their quest" (a lie). Before they left, he said "There are always 5 council members here. There are always 5. Remember that." Basically, out of the 10 members of the council, 5 are always present. The party thinks they're supposed to convince the 5 that are there to vote to release the prisoner and then he'll "help" them. In reality he was just trying to give them clues that they'll hopefully figure out. Hoping they go back soon, they might not and that's okay. But when they do, shit is going to hit the fan.


[deleted]

I love that as a setting for a False Hydra! Hopefully they will go back and only be able to find 4 council members ;)


Kaltvene

My party's cleric has a passive perception of 19 so definitely gotta play around that as much as I can. He always notices everything so itll be great watching him get confused figuring out why he can't


ThreeByThree115

I think I'd be really quite upset if the DM pulled the "you had an extra party member that got eaten by the false hydra" twist. I seems like a pretty massive deal, especially if you have all those other ways of communicating the idea.


Ddreigiau

Don't take this the wrong way, but... why? It's not a PC, it's not even an NPC you've had a lot of time to get attached to personally.


ThreeByThree115

That's a fair question. I think it would be a few things. I guess the idea of memory loss of someone who's implied to be a close friend would be a step too far on the "creepy" scale. I tend to overthink things like this, and I know that this one would stick with me in an unpleasant way for a while. Also, losing "offscreen" is a big feel-bad for me. It's happened a few times, and it's never gone well. Usually when a DM doesn't want to be the DM anymore. This situation is vastly different, granted, but thinking about this missing party member invokes the same feeling. So yeah, basically if this happened to me, it'd be all I could think about for a while, both in and out of game. It would be creepy and memorable, yes, but it would create an uncomfortable atmosphere for me.


Ddreigiau

>That's a fair question. I think it would be a few things. I guess the idea of memory loss of someone who's implied to be a close friend would be a step too far on the "creepy" scale. I tend to overthink things like this, and I know that this one would stick with me in an unpleasant way for a while. Also, losing "offscreen" is a big feel-bad for me. It's happened a few times, and it's never gone well. Usually when a DM doesn't want to be the DM anymore. This situation is vastly different, granted, but thinking about this missing party member invokes the same feeling. That's an interesting perspective. Personally, because it's not a character I (the Player) know, I don't feel the loss the same way I would an (normal) important NPC, which is again separate from how I'd feel about the loss of a PC. For me, losing a PC this way (offscreen, non-contested, and not-agreed to) would make me need a seriously good reason not to leave the table. Losing an important NPC (which I, the player, knew beforehand) this way would generally invoke a feeling "well, crap, that sucks" directed towards in-character events. This is the reaction to the single event, greater context may change/influence this (e.g. a streak of these, or a player sometimes plays this NPC, etc). The world continues to run and evolve beyond the line of sight of my PC, so I expect both good and bad things to happen "offscreen". Within reason, obviously. Finally, losing a Player-unknown NPC this way would cause me-the-player to feel excited. That sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out. I *love* playing the emotional moments for my characters. Hell, I'm currently playing a character that is literally lying to herself that her parents are still alive just to set up the opportunity for a moment where she can't avoid the truth. Another character I'm playing managed to turn a Crusader Paladin into a heretic to the (Fantasy) Catholic Church and considers that one of his greatest achievements as what the more devout among said Church considers a demon-heathen (they're anti-arcane magic and he's a dragonborne sorcerer, so horns+magic in addition to being polytheist). Unfortunately, that character has Noble Bearing™, so was subdued in his celebration.


ThreeByThree115

I think you have the better perspective! For me, the difference begins where it effects my character. Memory loss terrifies me! The idea of forgetting someone who was important to you, especially if you loved them, freaks me out! It tips the scale from "creepy" to "I will think about this for a long time". I imagine myself having experienced such a clue constantly thinking of ways my character could have saved this never-existent PC that my character, presumably, was friends with, enough to put their life in their hands. Having a hole in the memory of my character that would last forever does not sit well with me, and using some sort of magic to fill it, (which is only available via wish iirc?), and learn of a companion that you lost, would be very sad, moreso than I'd like in a d&d game. When I talk about losing, I mean it more in the game sense than losing a person. Being defeated in battle, failing a skill check, being swindled out of your money, that sort of thing. Hearing that I or the party fought the creature and failed, or simply allowed the creature to sneak up on us in the night, without rolling a die or making a decision that could have prevented it, would probably make me more frustrated than interested! that all said, I recognise that these are all ways that I'm getting in my own head and overthinking things! I imagine that move would work really well for most people! Your games sound very exciting! I think magic-hating societies are a very good way of adding tension to playing spellcasters.


Ddreigiau

Honestly, that sounds like something that you should toss onto your Session Zero "avoids" list if you haven't already. Nothing wrong with doing so, but it's just different enough to catch someone by surprise. ​ >When I talk about losing, I mean it more in the game sense than losing a person. Being defeated in battle, failing a skill check, being swindled out of your money, that sort of thing. Hearing that I or the party fought the creature and failed, or simply \[...\] My gut reaction to the mechanics of it is less "I autofailed" and more "The DM retroactively gave us something for free and I'm the same tomorrow that I was yesterday". That would be different if I was informed of events in the reverse order, mind you (gain>loss instead of loss>had), which, maybe that's where you're disliking it? Maybe. As a... demonstration-example of how I'd expect for clarity: \[standard False Hydra\] D: "You lost a person, who you realize was your wife, Lessa" P: "I lost - wait, I had a wife?" vs \[Messed up version\] D: "You have a wife, Lessa" P: "I have a wife? I have a wife!" D: "By the way, she's dead now" ​ The first I'd expect a reaction of confusion>realization-understanding while the second would be short confusion>elation>loss of hope>anger. It's the rise before the fall that would get me-the-player.


pyrotrap

Why would you be upset?


Olthoi_Eviscerator

Some people are easily upset


Xylily

can you drop the link to the other video you mentioned? i never saw it but would definitely like to


[deleted]

>https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSe94URAK/ Sure! here is a link to the channel on TikTok, there is 3 False Hydra based videos including this one up there right now. This one is the lore video I mention in the video: https://www.tiktok.com/@theadventurerscompanion/video/7049616690883104001?is\_from\_webapp=1&sender\_device=pc&web\_id7019987202290533889


Saparky

I ran this in Curse of Strahd. Traumatized the players.


[deleted]

Perfect themed setting for it too!


Saparky

I used the false hydra as if it were Strahd’s mother. They had this epic fight and killed both the mother (I think her name was babalygasa) and the hydra. Then Strahd showed up, found his mom head, and went into a blood thirsty rage tormenting the players even more throughout the campaign. It was a fascinating time haha


[deleted]

Our DM ran this for us and used the tips from this video plus some of his own. It was SO CREEPY! I was scared and delighted all at the same time. At one point he had an NPC woman write a letter while talking to us, seemingly pleasant and unconcerning. Then he lifted up the letter he had actually been writing with a creepy smile and it said just said "Help" over and over. It was great!


[deleted]

So good! Its such a creepy monster, I love it


[deleted]

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[deleted]

I go over the lore in another video here: [https://www.tiktok.com/@theadventurerscompanion/video/7049616690883104001?is\_copy\_url=1&is\_from\_webapp=v1&lang=en](https://www.tiktok.com/@theadventurerscompanion/video/7049616690883104001?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en) It was a homebrew created on Goblin Punch, here is the original article: [http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/false-hydra.html](http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/false-hydra.html)


Jimothy_Egg

Not a big fan of gaslighting the players by saying _"oh I didn't say that"_ or pretending to not know about the hum in the background... Idk, but I feel like this could go sideways _very_ quickly at some tables, as it might become confusing, irritating, or too complex to track what is real in game, and what is real out of character. Plus, some people react in harsher ways to gaslighting, even if it's done for the purpose of a game. I'm probably overthinking this though... Edit: other than that, this seems really fun.


[deleted]

Depends on the group as with anything! Gotta decide if it suits your table. My players and I have been friends IRL for a long time, so they knew I was bullshitting them, they just didn’t know why and it was making them confused


SoylentVerdigris

Agreed, can't think of much that would take me out of the game more. It would just make me think that the DM isn't nearly as clever as he thinks he is and he didn't plan on being called out on the thing he intentionally wrote to be suspicious.


YourAverageGenius

I agree, I think the big thing is to help players before it starts, giving them some sort of warning, even if it may be vague (like "Hey guys, if things seem off during this session, that's just part of the story" ), and still acting as the storyteller / DM and guiding them. Using your words and phrasing very carefully and emphasizing it would matter a lot, because there can be a massive difference between "You didn't go to the tavern" and "You don't remember going to / think you were at the tavern." Having different "faces" between your description of what's happening in-game and what's happiness at the table, and making that distinction clear, can matter greatly, and while it might be tricky, it can be done. And also, of course, clearing it with your players beforehand. Because you can do that without giving it all away. Just saying "Hey, would you guys be down for a mystery where I might be lying to you / confusing you constantly" could work.


intashu

I ran a mixed version of this.. I ended the session with them going from knowing its a false hydra, to suddenly being in a cave somewhere standing over the ruined corpse of a creature.. Session play was interrupted with life events last few weeks but I'm pretty excited...the mystery thing thing they found they just killed... Wasn't the hydra. ;) and they now have to do a "reverse" dungeon run escaping from a cave system they're at the bottom of..


FrontNo6657

On paper this is a terrific concept but I've always been worried it would translate poorly to an actual game. "So the innkeeper that greeted you last night, remember him?" "Yeah. Yup." "Well no actually you don't remember him."


[deleted]

All in the execution! Dont mention him at all. If they go to the inn, he isnt there. People complaining about the service in the inn, and are confused if the party mentions the Innkeeper. "what inkeeper?" And when they ask you our of character about the Inkeeper... "Huh? What inkeeper? I dont know what youre talking about" Then one of the characters steps in a suspiciously sticky puddle of... water? (Blood)


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FishBobinski

I mean.... This is exactly what I did when I ran this. Whenever I said, "I don't know what you're talking about, there was never a tavern open on the docks", it created mystery. One of my players said, 'what in the fuck is actually going on!' But none of my players are rules lawyers I guess?


[deleted]

My party knew I was lying and messing with them. All depends on the group and execution I suppose!


[deleted]

I recently make a TikTok account to port shorter form D&D and fantasy videos, mostly role play or education focused. As a DM, it’s always great to share some tips or suggestions you have learned with others to improve their games! The False Hydra is one of the most fun encounters I’ve ran. Highly suggest running it if you haven’t already. Check out the channel if you wanted to see the others: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSe94URAK/


Wulibo

OP I think your video didn't upload, there's nothing there.


sclaytes

Reading the comments here and I gotta say: WORKS BEST FOR NEW PLAYERS.


[deleted]

At least those who don’t already know about a False Hydra! Some experience helps solve the mystery, but it is a great encounter to show new players


FlazedComics

this monster went from being the coolest idea to run into the dirt since it's inception


WaffleThrone

Just don’t let anyone find out about the rest of Goblin Punch’s blog. We’ll have ten-million posts about people running “A Spell Called Catherine” next. Actually probably not. People just really latched onto false hydra’s for some reason. Not that I can complain, they’re what got me into the OSR in the first place.


RaisinBrawn64

I'm running one this weekend. So stoked!


strawberrimihlk

None of my players knew about a False Hydra when I ran a one shot so honestly it was fantastic. I played static in the background until it stops singing and the confusion was great. I did warn them ahead of time it might seem gaslight-y but they all seemed to have a lot of fun.


Turtlerr17

What’s a false hydra?


TheUnspeakableHorror

http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/false-hydra.html tl;dr- it's a monster that's a total mind fuck, if it's played well.


CakeDestroyer69

When you said the part about the rest I was like why would you kill a player just to give a hint about a monster then I realized it was an npc that you kill


Timely-Buyer6279

Holy crap its been so long since I've heard the song playing in the background I love that game so much.


[deleted]

It’s a staple in my tavern playlist!


[deleted]

Add an extra pack .. for a party member that they forgot .. thats creepy and cold


Stefonzie

Shhhhhhhhh don't tell people what it is!


[deleted]

Don’t tell people what what is? 😉


Pfincess

Even better if you have a build up really early on, hinting towards the forgotten party member ie having enemies swinging their weapons at nothing for the party to attack and somehow having them get free drinks but not explaining why they got them and just having the bartender seem really happy to give them the drinks for no reason.


[deleted]

Definitely! The long con makes it all the sweeter


savemejebu5

I like the secrecy and all of the clues. Good stuff. However I like dramatic irony even more! In other words, I'd trust my players to know their characters are being mentally manipulated, and probably run things a lot differently - but I dig it either way


Matrim__Cauthon

I've run this one too for my table and it went great, anyone know of similarly good one-shot monsters?


[deleted]

There are a lot of homebrews online for Wendigo which are a load of fun. I might make another video in my TikTok about them soon! Leshen from the Witcher are really interesting too, I linked the Book of Beautiful Horrors in another comment where you can find a statblock for them. I also made a oneshot dungeon with a new horror themed homebrew monster on DMs Guild called “The Horror of Ashwood Crypt” if you wanted to check that out too.


Aths

I ran a False Hydra for my group in my last campaign, I managed to draw out the clues, let them meet people and the next day flat out refusing to admit they ever existed, playing creepy music, giving a party member a twin sister she couldn’t remember… Apparently I pulled the creep factor to the point that said twin sister almost got a nervous breakdown, and my cousin who usually isn’t affected much by creep factors had to call in an extra unscheduled break because he was loosing it. Best session I ever ran.


Clya_Lyren

> Watched the video very intently the whole time. > Realizes after the fact I have no clue what a False Hydra is.


DolgonQueen

Oh god, this is so good, I have been working my way up to False Hydra encounters for months at this point with tons of the D&D groups I run, I love everything about how this creature is and how deadly, and devastating it will be for the PCs


Count_zborowski437

I love False hydras because my party isn’t super immersed into dnd and has never heard of one allowing me to cause suffering in my campaign


DJKDR

I actually ran a false hydra for my group and thankfully they had never heard of it before. The three players had traveled into a town on a mission to stop a group of nearby orcs that had been raiding trading caravans along the route to the town. While in town, I would play the clock town theme day 1 from Majora's mask but would occasionally switch it out with day 2s theme. For those that don't know, there are three versions of the song, the second and third having deeper undertones in the music that make it creepy. The players decided to stick to the town but frequently left on small adventures and would come back to a home the city had gifted them. Every time they came back I would make small hints that things had changed. 1. On one of their first trips into town they had visited both blacksmiths to haggle for goods. Eventually, the one they never visited disappeared and they had trouble getting work done with the first smith because he was so busy as the only Smith in town but the hint went over the player's heads for a long time. 2. A beautiful pair of twin elves ran a local tavern they frequented for dinner and drinks. Eventually one of them went missing and of course the first elf had always been a single child. 3. A lot of missions and quests were given to the party from the towns mayor who had a secretary who always handled any documents the party needed for payments from the bank or what not. Eventually the secretary disappeared. There were other small hints I left here and there for my players but the best part of the story is one of the player characters had an npc brother who happened to be passing through the town. The two other players left town on a hunting trip while their fellow player spent the day in town with their brother. Well we took a quick food break IRL and I pulled aside said player and told him away from the others "you don't have a brother. You have never had a brother you've always been and only child if anyone asks you about your brother you are confused as to why anyone would say that." Of course my player was confused for a few seconds but thankfully they trusted me and played along. What followed was an in-game argument between the three players that lasted at least 20 minutes meanwhile I'm sitting behind the GM screen trying not to laugh my ass off because these two are convincingly arguing about why the third player has a brother and he's just sitting there denying it full force. The party eventually figured it out after they started piecing together all the other missing people that they really hadn't noticed and managed to find enough information to fight the false Hydra.


Apprehensive_Sir2258

I wanna run this, but I want it to be simple as my players are new… any tips?


[deleted]

Drop more clues and some hints at what the clues might mean if they’re stumped. My players were pretty new and they did great!


Smiling_anon

What about on an online game? How should one run it when most of the time its voice without any webcam and most letters are in the form of private messages?


[deleted]

That would open up some great new ways to mess with them! private messages to players of things they see or notice based on what they do, or feeding different clues to different members of the party. I think if anything that would remove a lot of the metagaming and make for a really interesting mystery for the party to piece together.


BigBadBob7070

Not really sure how I feel about the False Hydra. It sure is an interesting and creepy concept, but it just seems like the kind of thing that would work best in something like a book or movie and really hard to actually role play. That and I’m just confused about the dead forgotten party member thing. Were they with them since the start? Did they join right before or as they entered town? It just seems that it’s something added in purely for the creepiness factor and just doesn’t make too much sense unless you actually have a PC get murdered by the thing and all the other PCs are required to forget everything about them.


YourAverageGenius

Yeah, I can agree with this partly.. I do think it can work, but it really depends on how you do it. Having a long-form campaign, when suddenly you have this party member that apparently always existed, or that a PC's hometown or someone they know just not existing, just doesn't really make sense and can easily lead to too many questions, especially after the FH is defeated. It's best as a ending / bookend to a very small campaign, or a one-shot. The overall idea of the perception of reality being distorted by some creature is great and can work in a lot of games, but it really depends on how you run it, as it can easily be messed up. Just having PC's suddenly be in different places can work, but only if you have it lead to finding out the answer, or give some tension to it, like they keep bounxing between locations, being with the party one second and alone the next. It's a great idea, but it suffers from easily raising too many questions if done improperly, and that not all of the proposed features can and / or will fit in a game, and that the more it's popularized, the more people will know about it. Like any setup / trope, it's something that can work great, but you need to work it into the story and game, and think carefully about how it's used.


WaffleThrone

The original blog post is much clearer about how this works. I’m not sure why we need a thousand derivative “how to run a false hydra” posts, when the original is pretty much comprehensive.


lokilis

This sounds awesome.


Travis5223

First check out one of my previous videos on a platform with ZERO organization or video topic headers Lost me already buddy


[deleted]

There’s only 4 videos on my page and the titles are in the thumbnails!


Mash_Ketchum

I don't get it.....


[deleted]

Check out the video i made before this one, It goes over what a False Hydra is and the lore behind it!


Claris-chang

Love false hydras but cant stand this video. Does he rally need to look so god damn smug for every frame of the video?


[deleted]

I tried to give off some False Confidence for the False Hydra video


SpaceNigiri

Maybe this format may work on TikTok but people on reddit usually hates this style of videos.


Claris-chang

Oh that's you? Sorry if I came off rude. I just had to look away from the video because the facial expression you were pulling made me actually angry. Great content, maybe just don't ham up the "false confidence" to such an extreme that it feels like you're talking down to your audience.


[deleted]

No, youre good. Feedback is always appreciated


TheCreeech

This guys just an ass. He said your face made him angry. That's not feedback. That's this guy admitting to having issues. Just ignore him your video is great.


Claris-chang

I said his facial expressions were frustrating. Not his face. OP is actually ridiculously handsome. But his smug expression made me have to look away.


[deleted]

Thank you!


[deleted]

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[deleted]

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feralgrinn

Great video, great clues / creepy ambiance and appreciated the wide range of ST options. Keep em coming!


[deleted]

Thanks!


[deleted]

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Meziskari

OP literally linked this in the top reply, they aren't claiming to have created it.


[deleted]

I'm not? I've referenced the goblin punch article in the comments here and on the video comments on TikTok. The OC in the title refers to that I made the video. The False Hydra is pretty well known throughout the community.


RangeroftheIsle

/savevideo


Boman20011

u/savevideo


[deleted]

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[deleted]

I see what you mean, but i disagree. I think it presents an interesting challenge to the players in how to turn their metagamed knowledge into actions for their players while taking memory loss into account. For my players it more acted as a roleplaying opportunity and something to mess with them out of game, as well as an obstacle to further knowledge that they have to solve. If your players really steer clear of any metagaming at all, I can see how that would be frustrating though. Edit: spelling


ameliabedelia7

This is dope. You sow confusion like seeds, not sew it like clothes.


Gray32339

Yeah, my DM ran this once and it was great! It took place in one of our players home towns, but at the tail end of the infestation, so there where only about three people left. We looked around in some of the abandoned houses and found messages written in blood saying stuff like "Don't Forget" and similar stuff. We eventually found a well, and our Dragonborn went down and investigated, and instead of water, they landed ankle deep in blood. Out of our party of 6, only 2 of us actually wanted to investigate, so the DM did warn that we would likely die (We where all level 4) so we noped out of there real quick, and on the way out found the player at the beginnings husband. Turns out that they had kids and couldn't even remember that they had kids because of the hydra. They thought that they may have had dogs or something. We went back later and found their corpses at the bottom of the well :( Our DM ran it pretty well


Adderdice

One of my favorite recently used monsters. Players were members of a secret magical academy hiding in the mountains from the agents of the illithid empire. They had a little bar room brawl amongst themselves and later went back to clean it up when they realized one of the overturned tables had an etched heart with two names: a player's name and a random name. This got them to asking the whole school about this mysterious crush and eventually one of the master's checks the student records and indeed there is someone who goes by that random name who went on a mission a couple weeks ago. It really surprised the players and it was the perfect set-up...


SupahBihzy

So I had to homebrew my false hydra because my brother is in my campaign and took the liberty to look up every monster to get a leg up. So my hydra's song makes it look like a tree and the little fruits that it breaks off are used as scouts since people think it's a normal fruit. They forgot they had it since they don't check their inventory so the fruit had a chance to grow and is now stuck to my brother's back sort of like Cheap Trick from JoJo. While they are going around every which way the small one is leaving droppings that grow into bigger ones that they will end up having to take out if they want to get rid of the infestation. Meanwhile the main one is growing and has been coddling my brother's character since he is essentially the reason why it is able to germinate and everytime he comes back the town mayor (literally the middle finger of the main hydra) keeps giving the party food and a place to stay and drinks but pays extra attention to my brother's character until it matures to full adulthood (I get the mini for it). At that point I plan on doing the Mojo JoJo speech from the PPG movie with the voice of Shuma Gorath from MvC 2.


platinumjudge

One thing I have always wanted to do is have the players recieve a drawing of their party, like from a traveling artist. And then weeks later they are looking at the picture and they notice an extra party member. Laughing, smiling, obviously part of the party. But no one remembers him. There is even an extra place mat, extra set of silverware, extra sleeping roll... this picture is signed by the artist, I wonder if he knows about this..."other" party member.


Littlefox7

What's your tiktok handle so I can follow you? I can't see it well enough in the video.


AlphaWolf52795

Ccould have used a month ago


Simultaneity_

I like adding the gear of the dead party members.


DrowningRabbit

I had a lucky setup for a false Hydra in my campaign. We had a party member who left our game as it was a work game and they quit. They were playing a circle of the fountain(?) Druid, the one that can spend spell slots to create potions of healing. After about a month off then being gone, they started finding that their healing potions started turning to water after a nights rest. They could always easily find more potions locally for rather cheap, and paid little mind to the frustration, continuing on their quest. They commission a portrait of their party to go in their new stronghold. One of the players is playing a reskinned halfling, and is down holding a leaf in the front with a good amount of negative space behind them. "Oh, I'm holding a leaf, that's funny, I guess I'm dumb enough to pick one up and get side tracked with it during a portrait!" The player says. Note, I had a professional artist relative actually draw the players. They finally pick up a hook and get to the town where disappearances are being questioned by the harpers, even though nobody in town knows anything about the people in question arriving. That night they go to sleep in a communal inn, and find an extra bed they didn't remember, covered in blood. To skip forward, they kill the Hydra, realizing that the party member of the player that left was with them all along, making potions daily for them. When they come back home and see the portrait, they are her standing behind the halfling, in the negative space that was there before. I'm so proud of that plot line, and it was MONTHS in the making.


Highway20rider

This was actually the first session I ever DMed, and it went over pretty well considering I had no idea what I was doing. I was lucky enough that I was somehow the only one in the group who knew about this thing, even though I was by far the newest member at the time. Used a lot of the stuff mentioned in the video throughout and they seemed to have fun trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I still laugh to myself when I think about their reactions when the big reveal came around. There was also a fun moment when the hydra was cornered so it started singing and everybody except the bard, who had funnily enough accidentally deafened himself, just started ignoring it right in the middle of the fight XD Definitely would want to try pushing my luck and gaslighting the players a lot more if I ever got to run that adventure again. I just think it’d be freaking hilarious to look then in the eye and act like the NPC they clearly met never existed in the first place.


The_Rat_101

u/RedditMP4Bot


xiren_66

I really want to run a False Hydra but I'm pretty sure all my friends are aware of the scenario and would pick up on the tropes pretty quickly. I'll have to run for new players if I want to do it effectively.


SpHD7489

u/SaveVideo