Special Treat: Tome of Oblueteration ideas

Last week I had the sudden inspiration to run the D&D campaign 'Tomb of Annihilation', but theme it around blueberry inflation.

Adding kinky shenanigans to my dungeons and dragons games is nothing new, but this particular kind of inflation would be a first for me, and I just couldn't get the idea out of my head. So, in what might become a future recap series (I'm still working out the details with my prospective players), I'm going to share all the behind the scenes details with you, my beloved patrons!

Here's a few bits and pieces from my current campaign document to enjoy~

Background Brainstorming

In 1497 DR, the curse was first discovered.

It was resistant to magical and clerical healing, and seemingly only affected two kinds of humanoids; those who had previously died and been resurrected, and those over the age of 25 years. Physicians and healers were flummoxed, as the curse’s symptoms could be alleviated, but never cured.

The curse was slow and debilitating, but only lethal if left untreated. It seemed to spread via its fluids.

As this curse spread across Faerûn, appearing out of nowhere, it gained many names: the azure plague, berrytosis, ceruleophilia, and notably Chauntea’s Bane (as Chauntea was the first divine being to come down with the curse…but not the last).

But in time, as it spread, one name won out:

The Blue Curse.

It is now mid 1498 DR. You play as a motley group of journeyman adventurers being sent to Chult to seek out a cure. All divination spells point towards the jungled peninsula as being the source of the malady.

The Player Characters

This campaign is dangerous and often deadly. When a PC dies or pops without a token of restoration or a token of reincarnation, they are permanently dead.

As such, each player will randomly generate three to four 5th level characters to keep in a roster of adventurers. At the beginning of the first session, they’ll choose one from this roster to form a party.

When the party levels up, all characters in the roster level up as well. That way the whole party remains level consistent.

When a PC dies, the player selects a new character from the roster.

If all the characters in the roster die, the campaign is over and the bad guys win a juicy victory.

Every time the PC’s return to Port Nyanzaru for an extended rest (one week), they can opt to switch to a different character in the roster.

Art by 0pik-0ort

Becoming A Blueberry

These rules are really basic and likely to be revised and changed before the game begins, but they're comprehensive and tested enough to be serviceable for most D&D 5e games.

A humanoid can contract the Blue Curse in one of two ways:

• They die and are resurrected, coming down with the Blue Curse within 1d4 hours.

• They are exposed to or ingest a blue cursed humanoid's juices, failing a DC 20 Constitution saving throw.

The Blue Curse is measured in six levels. An effect can give a creature one or more levels of exhaustion, as specified in the effect's description. Upon contracting the Blue Curse, the creature begins at Level One. Unless juiced or otherwise aided, the creature progresses to the next level of the curse after every 12 hours. Taking a long rest advances the curse by one level. Taking a short rest prompts a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the curse advances one level.

Level One
Your skin slowly turns blue, marking you with the curse. You have disadvantage on all Charisma checks to interact with non-cursed individuals.

Level Two
You grow light headed and easily distracted. You have disadvantage on all Wisdom checks to spot and hear things.

Level Three
You begin to swell up with juice, growing bigger and heavier. Your speed is halved.

Level Four
You swell up even bigger. Your size increases by one level. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws.

Level Five
You grow so large you are immobilized. Your size increases by one level. Your speed is reduced to 0.

Level Six
You explode!