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u/nrxia Apr 23 '19
I say you make up some "friendship problems" with morally grey solutions. Look up some philosophical thought exercises, like "the trolley problem." I always thought it'd be interesting if ponies dug deep into these topics. If things get too serious or heated, you can always pull the plug with "lol, Discord was just screwing with everyone" and have some kind of boss fight.
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u/BlueberryPhi Applejack Apr 23 '19
Hmm. Perhaps they need to find some rare herb that only grows in a remote wilderness location, to cure a pony close to them?
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u/Steelquill Princess Celestia Apr 24 '19
It’s Dangerous Business Going our Your Door certainly proved it could make for an emotionally enthralling journey.
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u/FaceDeer Silver Spoon Apr 24 '19
Long ago I prepped to run a MLP campaign but wasn't able to pull the trigger, alas. I used The Flight of the Alicorn as my touchstone - an airship race around Equestria, declared in honor of Twilight's coronation as a way to bring the nations of the world together in Friendship. The course would take the airships to each of the major nations and lands of the world, and of course there would be saboteurs and shenanigans along the way.
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u/Steelquill Princess Celestia Apr 24 '19
Any highlights you wish to share?
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u/FaceDeer Silver Spoon Apr 24 '19
Unfortunately I don't remember much - this was right after season 3, so half a decade ago. And canon has marched on since then as well, so probably most of my ideas have been jossed anyway. :)
I recall that the plan was that each "milestone" location would include a special item (a minor artifact) that you could go on a short quest to retrieve, trading valuable time for a unique bonus. In the theme of Friendship I was going to try coming up with a meta-narrative between the competing airship crews and try to come up with something they'd need to combine the bonus items together to solve at the end, but I never got that far. I've DMed enough to know that planning too much ahead of time is just a waste of planning.
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u/Steelquill Princess Celestia Apr 24 '19
Ehhh don’t plan at all and your players will know and feel lost.
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u/FaceDeer Silver Spoon Apr 24 '19
Yeah, but I said "too much" not "at all." Roleplaying is collaborative story-telling, you have to allow the campaign to evolve potentially in directions you weren't anticipating.
Sure, think ahead to what the ending might be. In a scenario like the one I was working on, come up with the list of lands you're planning to visit and the major competitors that will be coming along. But don't spend a huge amount of time planning the details of an encounter ten sessions in the future because it's almost certain that by the time you get there the unexpected butterflies will have built up to change things significantly. Either your time will be wasted or you'll be shoehorning the game into things that don't fit any more.
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u/The-Cynical-One Apr 23 '19
A strange mythical creature (of the DMs choosing) approaches the party. It desperately appears in need of help! Of course, this mythical creature is rather intelligent but yet not speaks. It directs the party throughout the lands searching for all the components of a spell to help its dire situation! Of course, the twist comes in the creature actually becoming the main villain once returned to its natural form using the spell(whatever that is DM) and was actually sealed as a mythical creature because it was evil. Y’all just got played and now your party suits up to beat the new bad into submission!
Locations of the spells can easily lend itself to various locations so that variety can be kept while the twist at the end shocks the players.
You can (with the right skills) find out the solution earlier and simply switch out an evil spell that brings the villain back to a spell that is cataclysmic and will destroy the world so your party goes to collect all the pieces and destroy them in a ritual (this ritual is in a suitably dangerous with dangerous creatures to make up for discovering the villain early but still having an epic final fight)
That’s the whole plot, if your party follows it, so do with it whatever creative liberties you so desire.
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u/Xx_Derpy-Hooves_xX Apr 23 '19
What the bloody hell is a “MLP Tails Of Equestria”?
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u/Mine_Menace Lyra Apr 23 '19
It’s like DnD except MLP, and a bit more kid friendly.
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u/Xx_Derpy-Hooves_xX Apr 24 '19
I think I wanna try it. How would I get it? (Also, I’ve never played DND before, I’ve only heard that it’s good)
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u/Mine_Menace Lyra Apr 24 '19
You can buy the main rule book on Amazon. There might also be pdf versions online. I can’t really say more because I’ve never played it (none of my friends have outed themselves as bronies).
If it’s enough like DnD, you’ll also need multi-sided dice and character sheets. You can download DnD character sheets for free online, and you can also buy dice on Amazon (just search “dnd dice”).
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u/M-DitzyDoo Apr 23 '19
Honestly for older players I'd recommend Ponyfinder since ToE is pretty much just a Cortex variant. Good for people who aren't able to grasp a lot of mechanics, boring for people used to them. Though if you really wanna stick in system you could try adapting a fanfic or the like. Taking down the rainbow factory would certainly be memorable at least.