This suddenly reminded me of Bioshock for a reason.

Anyway awesome idea.

BBEG: Vampire Bard//Warblade, a dashing blade type who wears a white mask over half his face.

Skeletal opera patrons, trapped there forever. Banshee chorus singers, with a buffed up Banshee main star. Zombie hulk fat tenors. A Chandelier trap.

>>10088662
The curtains pull back, and the players see their latest BBEG on strings like a marionette, being puppetted about the stage. He/she/it seems to be hypnotized or otherwise mind-controlled. The BBEG moves to the music being played by the piano man.

>>10088679
Mix bioshock style with music meister BBEG?

>>10088690
You're fucked.

>>10088690
The BBEG and various minions and villains from plots past, who all appear to be mind-controlled, play out a few scenes reflecting the party's deeds. Everything seems to be directed by the piano, and the man playing it.

Abraham Lincoln

Play this instead of having the BBEG monologue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVY3OdYTjIY&feature=related

Also a bone dragon with an organ built into its head and neck. And lots of steampunk musical undead. Violinist automatons based off human corpses and so on.

>>10088714
Up in the box seats are propped the corpses of the past victims of any of the villains the party has faced... as well as any innocent bystanders killed by the party in their quests. They are in the finest opera-going attire.

Here's a thought: no monsters.

Instead, the room is chock-full of traps. Curtain net traps, (the chandalier trap mentioned is awesome), enchanted rugs that roll up the heroes, benches that crack and splinter, candles that spread fire throughout the room and surrounding the heroes (think firewall/blaze from diablo 2), etc. The goal is for the heroes to actually make it to the front, in range to kill the BBEG on the keys.

Some kind of magical force shield protecting the stage from the audience.

Just something different from the undead theme.

>>10088728
You're even sicker than the marionette guy.

>>10088728
The opera goes on, silent but for the dancing villains, the shifting sets and the music from the piano.

It depicts a grand scheme of some sort, enacted by an always-unseen figure, to manipulate the fate of the party and the land they travel in from behind the scenes, so to speak. Every plot foiled by the party was a secret victory for this puppetteer, every mistake his gain, up to this moment.

OR

It depicts a tragedy, the hero an unseen victim, whose every friend or family member has fallen to some ill fate due to the meddling of the party members. The music grows darker, and louder, as the opera progresses, until finally the climactic scene is reached- and the man at the piano leaps up, turns, and screams "YOU! YOU HAVE BEEN THE SOURCE OF ALL MY PAIN!"

>>10088760
But I AM the marionette guy....

>>10088690
>>10088714
>>10088728
>>10088774
All me. Basically, the man at the piano has formed some obsession over the party, and has maneuvred them here for some purpose; instead of giving the standard BBEG monologue, he gives them exposition via a sick and depraved wordless opera of slaves and corpses.

>>10088728
Corpses of the PCs' family members/respected idols/love interests! Yeah!

>>10088774

>>10088796
Yes! That's the spirit!

>>10088801
Glad I had an effect. Think of the effect a good DM could get out of his players with this.

>>10088789
Cool. OP wants to know: what's your vision for how it should be set up? In your version, would the PCs be barging into the BBEG's lair, or should they be formally dressed for the occasion, sent there by a trusted noble or comrade?

>>10088796
You fags are the reason why few PCs are stupid enough to have families/love interests/etc.

>>10088822
haha.

>>10088774
>"YOU! YOU HAVE BEEN THE SOURCE OF ALL MY PAIN!"

TAKE THIS, MY LOVE, MY ANGER, AND ALL OF MY SORROW!

>>10088815
They should definitely be in full battle gear.

>>10088774
>>10088815
>>10088839
And then he dies from the first hit. And you announce the game is done.

And they sit there.
With their guilt.
The real BBEG.

You should have an octopus midboss try to drop a 16 ton weight on the party.

>>10088814
You would be an awesome DM.

>>10088796
>family members/respected idols/love interests!
>implying any PC is stupid enough to have family or love interests.

d20 Call of Cthulhu has a nice adventure set in a theater, the map is very nice


Also: Coraline.

>>10088859
Oh, come on now. There's always that NPC that the PCs would happily sacrifice their lives for.

>>10088815
Hmm. Both are good possibilities...

If they are sent by a trusted noble or comrade, they'll likely be expecting an opera house, so they won't realize anything is wrong until the curtains go up. It'll catch them off guard, enhancing the effect it will have on them. Plus, the idea that this trusted noble or comrade was also in league with/a tool of the man at the piano will complete the task of turning their world on it's head. Plus they'll be largely unarmed, and completely unprepared for an encounter both mentally and equipment-wise. You can put them in a box seat, so they won't notice the occupants of the other boxes (or that there aren't any other living audience members) until a bit into the show... I like it.

With them barging in, you'd get more surprise and confusion as they find an opera house in the middle of the BBEG's lair rather than, say, a dungeon or laboratory. That's about it, though.

So I'd say have a trusted noble or comrade send them.

>>10088881
No, and Shit Tier DMs are the reason why.

>>10088855
>>10088884
>And then he dies from the first hit. And you announce the game is done.

>And they sit there.
>With their guilt.
>The real BBEG.

Or this for a slightly different sort of mindfuck, I suppose.

>>10088902
That's a little harsh. And you're wrong.

...not that arguing on the internet is going to change anything.

>>10088822
>>10088859
>>10088902
I was thinking more that the corpses would be the PCs' family members/respected idols/love interests who had died from other events earlier in the campaign, whose corpses had been dug up, meticulously cleaned, made up and dressed up before being put in these seats. The man at the piano wouldn't kill them himself, I don't think. He'd just want to dredge up old memories, old wounds that were just beginning to heal over.

>>10088935
Awesome.

Saving thread until I need it. Thanks everyone!

So... does this give you enough to go on, or do you require more, OP?

>>10088974
>>10088985
Ah. I guess that answers my question. Glad to have helped!

Once again, /tg/ - Gets Shit Done.

>>10088985
Yeah, I'm good. A very helpful thread.

I was thinking I had 3 options:

-Introduce abandoned Opera House at beginning of campaign, visit it in its glory near the end of game for BBEG.
-Part of bad guy's lair
-Magnificent and exclusive opera house in the middle of the city; restricted to only the noble elite.

I think I'll go with the latter, just to put things on a more epic scale. (All the elite are in on it.)

>>10089011
Excellent.

>>10088919
How so? I was pretty shocked that the most sentimental, naive RPer friend I had already knows that its standard operation procedure to not have NPC ties for your characters or else faggot DMs WILL have the BBEG kill them or kidnap and mastermind them.

Here's a thought- The PCs are spectators, where the opera re-enacts their enemy's life, and his defeats. However, he mixes attacks into the play; The clues are how they beat him the *last* time.

If you're really going to pull this off right though, you're either going to have to plan for it the entire campaign, or hope you're really good at bullshitting all the connections to everything.