We were recently tickled by a tale of a devious DM who tricked their DnD players into living in a Mimic. The luckless party didn’t discover the truth for 15 entire sessions, when one of its members finally got a bit too curious and started digging in the right spot.
Reddit user Darth_Ra recently shared the story of their DnD campaign Lamplight, so called because “the idea that birthed it was literally ‘how long could I gaslight an entire adventuring party?’”
After their previous DnD city was tragically destroyed, Darth_Ra’s party found a settlement that had appeared as if by magic, complete with roads, empty shops with their functions clearly written on signs, a lighthouse in the center with troughs that refill with water built into it. It all sounds a bit angler fish-y, but I suppose hindsight is 20/20.
Throughout the course of the campaign, Lamplight became the home base of the party, where they’d return after treating with pirate kings or befriending forest gnomes. The town started to grow as well, incorporating players’ suggestions for what might be helpful.
Darth_Ra says in their post that “the sheer amount and absurdity of the various theories on what the city of Lamplight was, combined with the constant alterations of the map as the group thought of things they might need around town, were beyond fun to claim innocence on.”
Finally, things come to a head when the party’s DnD barbarian, the 5e Gnome Mardnarb, decided to investigate the source of the mysterious water, prying apart cobblestones that suddenly become pink and fleshy as the illusion is lifted.
It sounds like a brilliant finale, as the party’s base turns into a monstrous 5e Mimic, the gates forming gigantic jaws, and the party fleeing into the desert. It reminds us of certain horror video games that pull the trick of giving you a ‘safe room’, and then hours later, suddenly take that safety away to great effect.
So, if you’re looking for a new and unusual DnD monster to throw at your party, why not consider a town-sized Grand Mimic? Or how about these other strange monsters from ages past that haven’t made it into the 5e Monster Manual yet.