Children of Trouble - the D&D Suicide Squad

 So, my Isle of Dread campaign has been going well for months, running almost every week. A couple of months ago we were missing an important player and the discussion began about an alternative I would run when somebody needed could not attend but we still had enough for a session. One player shot down my idea of just starting another secondary campaign starting at 1st level. He wants to start higher, and that does seem to be the trend these days. The other players were fine to start at 1st, but then I started wondering if I wanted another standard campaign starting at 1st. 

So I started pondering. Then the idea came out of the blue, Well, maybe not so out of the blue. Over recent years I had considered this campaign, but the idea was a bit off the beaten path for me. Almost all of my campaigns in my homebrew world I started as a kid happened in or around the west coast kingdom of Tanmoor. Almost 120 years of character continuity there. But for this I thought outside the box. Why not a campaign set in the Acherian Empire on the east coast?

The free kingdom of Tanmoor started over 800 years ago as a colony of Acheria, the first city of the lands of Acheron, based heavily on ancient Rome. A fantasy Roman Empire where they hate non-humans and magic types that were not clerics.

A few decades ago Tanmoor gained independence after many battles across the lands and in Tanmoor itself. A new age of kings and queens had begun in the west. Even during the centuries of Acherian Governors Tanmoor had evolved to be a city diverse in terms of non-human presences (due to proximity to the Wood Elf forests) and in contrast to the Empire proper, Tanmoor was like any DnD city chock full of wizards and all that. Big mages guild and all. 

But in the Empire, an age of decline began after the loss of Tanmoor. Now, Acheria itself was mostly just a place far away that Tanmoorians hated. I never had games set directly in the empire. Or on the upper east coast period. Well, now I am. 

So during those times decades ago when Acheria was sending troops to the west to secure their hold on Tanmoor, and them mostly being trounced in large part due to high level player characters taking part in the struggles, they came up with a specialist group they called The Children of Trouble to send in and counteract the diverse, magic wielding character parties that were devastating the troops. This group was made up of criminals of the empire. Wizards and non-humans. They were given powerful magic items and sent west to challenge the west and its player characters. 

This was way back in the 90's, and I had based the concept of The Children on a group of violent mutant hunters that appeared in X-men comics called The Marauders. The Children of Trouble presented a real challenge for the player characters. The Acherians considered it a successful strategy. But they were a product of their time.

But lately the notion hit me. Why not tap into the concept for this alternate campaign.  So I presented it as having been inspired by The Suicide Squad. They knew the movies, but I collected the comics back in the day, and it made sense. I would run it like that.

Will "Slappy" Smith

Oddball characters, either nonhumans or illegal magic users, who had run afoul of the Empire and earmarked for death in the colosseum but taken into a special prison and inducted into the new Children of Trouble program. 

I started them at 4th level, but would quickly put them to 5th. I gave them some decent starter magic items. Unarmed, dressed in wool prison togas, they were escorted by many guards with war dogs and removed from the regular prisons (where they had anti magic collars, and to an old abandoned and ruined ancient part of the city (as I say the Empire was in decline) where some very old academic buildings were being used as this special prison. 

The Warden. Brutal high level fighter.

Mentor, a high level Wizard and a former
member of the old CoT. He's their handler
at the prison. Fairly kind and somewhat helpful,
He represents the "benefactors" of the CoT
program. In a way he is as much a prisoner
as they are. 

Led into the main building, still partially in ruins and being restored, the characters are shackled, have anti magic collars (created by clerics), and are dressed in light togas. well armored guards and lots of barking guard dogs surround them, as they were told the deal: serve the empire out of the prison and they will find their circumstances improving more and more. If they agree (otherwise back to the main prison and prepped to die in the colosseums) they fight in a testing room lightly armed against archers, and then sent to their tiny crappy cells they will be in until after they are fully proved. Also, they are told that if they escape they have temporary tattooed "glyphs" on the back of their necks that will allow Orcus clerics to cause a demon to be summoned next to them to attack. That takes care of the "exploding collar" type situation the Suicide Squad members are in. 

The demon glyph. I also use it as the home
page image for the campaign. The symol
for the CoT, if you will. 

They get their first mission pretty quick. An area called "the Prefectures" between the twin cities of Acheria and Achium, a once vibrant suburban area fallen into some disrepair like much of the Empire, where a growing bandit gang called The Bloody Red Caps is taking over entire neighborhoods. 

So they went to Sarnath prefecture neighborhood where a couple dozen members of the gang had taken over. They were to send a message by destroying them as brutally as possible. This gang of freaks were certainly very horror show. I had named this session "The doom that came to Sarnath" or "the Bloody Red Caps have a bloody bad day"

The Mastodon, an old school Acherian troop 

transport used to transport CoT when outside 

the city proper. Drawn by warhorsed and driven 

by a pair of half ogre prisoners. 

The assault on the gang in the taverna was one of the most violent sessions I have ever run. My intention in the campaign was to have these mostly combat sessions, with a sort of over the top DnD combat parody vibe. Fantasy Tarantino. Not all the characters are evil, but they are all capable of coming off as terrifying. 

An elf from the Shadow Realm

A death goddess worshipping Dragonborn

An Asian female shape shifter assassin

Goblin artificer, raised by dwarves

Her mechanical familiar

Paladin Aasimir angel sort of character. She has
a halo that can come down over her face and it 
has eyes on it. She is imspired by Nephlim or
something. One of the few non evils

So it was a bloodbath and lots of fun. The CoT went back to the prison and were given access to after mission open air bathhouse with massages, and nice clean linens and better and warmer wool prison tunics, and an hours access to the meal hall for all kinds of decent food and drink. After their next mission they are given a dorm building to habitat, though still well guarded. 

Not only was this Children of Trouble idea and session super fun, but the players came up on their own with a secondary group to run for. Group B. 

A whole 'nother pack of freaks. 

And I have run an intro session for these monsters. Good Golly. I may post about them next, though I can't let the main campaign, Isle of Dread, get lost in the shuffle. This was supposed to be an occasional thing to run. But you gotta give the players what they want. 

Cheers.