Dungeons and Destiny: The Terran Frontier
A Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition adventure for the Dungeons and Destiny Module by Velvet Fang. Inspired by a variety of different themes, such as Halo, Ghost of Tsushima, Tom Clancy's The Division, Mobile Suit Gundam, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Driving Question
The Destiny universe is vast in terms of its scope, lore, and scale. But for every faction and named character, there are several thousand questions that are asked. Earth, despite being the cradle of humanity, has returned to a state where much of the planet is undocumented. Entire regions of the world have a perpetual fog of war. As I sat at my desk one question rang through my head.
What's out there?
Early Stages - The Big Bad
"Cruel, and cold...like winds on the sea, will you ever return to me? Hear my voice, sing with the tide, my love will never die."
I remember those lines as clear as the first day I listened to them. My eyes went wide with excitement, and I immediately went to my computer to get to work.
The style by which my adventure is being produced is very ad hoc, and I planned the encounters with the players as they were needed. Using the Destiny Universe by Bungie as a backdrop, I used areas of the world where there was little to no details to flush out my adventures for the players. In the latter half of 2022, was when I had begun the general theming of the adventure: diving under the ocean waves. The source of this came from one particular place: a youtube video.
The somberness of the lyrics, the soft sounds of the music box, and the general sensation of drowning formed the basis for the start of the story. The antagonist that my players would fight was the ancient sea specter Davy Jones, though with a distinct Destiny twist. In the Destiny Universe, death not being the end is a common theme. Characters either cheat or subvert death in one fashion or another via the means of "paracausal" forces.
But what happens to the souls who have already found rest? What happens when those the people who are content with the after life have that ripped away from them? This was the decision that informed the origin of Davy Jones in this universe. While the themes of the Jones from the popular Disney franchise were nearly impossible to escape, I searched for images for inspiration that weren't directly related. I scoured Pinterest before I eventually came across the image to the right.
On top of showcasing the general mood and tone of the character, it gave me an idea for the weapon that he would wield.
The Origin of the Adventure
Portrait of a Villain
The Unavoidable Comparison
Jones, as a character is synonymous with his interpretation in Pirates of the Caribbean. Aside from a frequent reference in other nautical themed pieces of media, (Spongebob Squarepants, Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack, etc.) the character is the Disney interpretation. Despite it being negatively referred to in 1726, and later described in 1751 in Tobias Smollet's The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, the most well known is Disney's variant. Given this, the difficulty came in making my take on the character distinct, so I took the Jones character, and spliced it with the tools available to the Destiny Universe. From the Destiny Expansion that had released earlier that same year, it was revealed that there was a powerful being that characters could become a disciple of. In exchange, it bestowed upon them great and terrible power. David Nathaniel Jones, would be one such a disciple.
Rather than leaning away from the supernatural side of Jones from the Pirates films, I leaned into it, giving it a Destiny coat of paint. Jones made a deal with the being the Destiny universe calls "The Witness" he would bring war to its enemies in exchange for his wife to return to him. Now he roams the seas and the stars in search of an artifact that would lead him to his ultimate goal: The First Fallen Star. An object capable of granting one wish. Of course, the Villain himself would need to be introduced to a party in quite a big way. When I crafted Jones as a villain, the first fireteam that I had run through the adventure didn't come across him. The second however did, and I wanted to make quite the impression.
Alternative Paths
While this was the main theme for the setting, I didn't want to just leave it at one possible adventure that the party could pursue. There's an entire half of a planet that they can explore. Ruined countries that no longer have a population, scientific facilities to plunder! At that point, I started to brainstorm other possibilities for additional things to explore. Two key ideas came to the forefront, that being Samurai Aliens, and Warlord Dystopia. These three items, all together informed the construction of the world map.
