D&D: Metroid Campaign Ideas For 5e

The average Dungeons & Dragons campaign takes place in a standard fantasy world that combines medieval Europe with the works of Tolkien. The DMs that are looking to create a different type of campaign can look to the Metroid series for inspiration, by combining sci-fi and horror elements, and trapping players in a mazelike dungeon that is filled with enemies that are beyond their understanding.

The Metroid series follows intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran, who often goes on dangerous missions that involve exploring bizarre alien worlds, and facing the vicious Space Pirates in battle. Metroid is one of the most highly-acclaimed first-party Nintendo franchises, with games like Super Metroid and Metroid Prime considered among the greatest video games of all time. Despite this, the Metroid series hasn’t been a sales juggernaut, and Samus Aran has gone into long periods of hibernation. 2021 might have finally changed Samus’ fortunes, however, as Metroid Dread was a big sales hit on Nintendo Switch. If the upcoming Metroid Prime 4 is also a hit, then fans will likely be seeing more of Samus in the future.

The dark sci-fi worlds of the Metroid series might seem as if they wouldn’t gel with a D&D campaign, but there have been attempts at introducing futuristic elements to D&D in the past. The return of Ravenloft in 2021 has introduced the perfect way to create a Metroid-inspired D&D campaign, as players can find themselves dragged into the realm of Mother Brain, and have to fight their way out.

DMs Can Create A H.R. Giger-Style Domain Of Dread In D&D Inspired By Metroid

The Metroid series takes place in a sci-fi universe, but this isn’t a friendly or sociable one, like the ones seen in Star Trek or Star Wars. The mainline games rarely show Samus interacting with other people. Instead, they involve claustrophobic dungeon designs, endless waves of alien monsters, and remnants of lost civilizations. A Metroid-inspired D&D campaign wouldn’t have bustling alien cantinas. These are games about survival in an alien environment and slowly getting stronger, in order to deal with bigger threats. The adventure would make the players feel claustrophobic and cut off from aid, as they are unwelcome visitors in a strange land.

The sci-fi setting of a Metroid D&D campaign would also run the risk of giving the players advanced technology or a means to escape their predicament. One way to get around this is to set the game in a location that once had a high-tech civilization, but it fell into ruin, leaving only rusted hardware and decaying buildings behind. The Ravenloft campaign setting would also be a good place to use such a location. Ravenloft has self-contained “Domains of Dread”, which each have their own horror theme and are ruled over by a powerful darklord. It’s not easy to leave a Domain of Dread, as many of them are protected by barriers that prevent people from escaping. Usually, the only way to leave a Domain of Dread is by defeating the darklord (which is no easy feat) or discovering some hidden means of escape.

A Metroid-inspired D&D campaign could have the artwork of H.R. Giger as its horror theme, with Mother Brain being its darklord. The first example most people will think of for a Giger/Metroid inspiration is the Alien franchise, as it was one of the main inspirations for Metroid. There is another video game that is better suited for this purpose. H.R. Giger’s artwork was used in a game called Dark Seed, where a main in the real world could enter a horrifying sci-fi world through his mirror. The Dark World in Dark Seed is filled with dead cities, alien technology, and hideous lifeforms that can barely be communicated with, making it the perfect fit for a Domain of Dread.

Making A Metroidvania D&D Adventure

The Metroid series is the originator of the Metroidvania subgenre of video games. The key element of the Metroidvania style is containing the setting in one location. The player is unable to explore every area of the game from the beginning, as some of them are locked behind keys, or require a special ability to bypass an environmental hazard. The setting is essentially a big progression puzzle, which gives the player freedom in how they approach it. The keys to progression are often held by bosses, which means that they all have to be defeated in order to complete the game.

A Metroid-inspired D&D campaign is easy to adapt to this format, as the game would take place in one massive dungeon, with its own environmental biomes and monsters to explore. The players are thrust into a dead alien civilization, whose only inhabitants are killer machines, animalistic genetically engineered lifeforms, and horrific alien monsters that want to dissect the party. There should be some dedicated safe zones for the players to rest in, such as areas where the security tech is still functional, and they can lock themselves in a room. The goal is to go out into each of the dungeon areas in order to defeat the boss, gain a new item or piece of knowledge, and become stronger in the process.

It should be explained early on that there is a device that will allow the party to escape their predicament and finding it can be their goal. This is also the perfect chance for the linguist DMs in the audience to create an alien language (or at least words in the language) and use these as a basis for puzzles, with the players slowly uncovering their meaning. The only problem with this style of campaign is that it wouldn’t have many D&D roleplaying opportunities, as the players are unlikely to find a town, and most of the enemies are alien lifeforms that cannot be reasoned with. A Metroid campaign would be better suited for groups that love the combat and exploration aspects of D&D, especially those who are looking to inject some body horror or extraterrestrial enemies into their game.

Adapting Metroid Monsters To Dungeons & Dragons 5e

Part of the fun of adapting a D&D campaign into an unfamiliar setting is adapting foes and items into the new world. In a Metroid campaign, healing potions can become sci-fi medkits and the stat-boosting magic items (like Gauntlets of Ogre Power) can be body horror implants. When it comes to the Metroid enemies: there are similar monsters in D&D that can be used as a basis for adaptation. Mother Brain can be the Elder Brain darklord of the realm, who is too strong for the party to fight head-on, but they may be able to defeat in the form of a puzzle, by shutting down the machines that she relies on to survive. The E.M.M.I robots from Metroid Dread can be Iron Golems that ruthlessly pursue the party through parts of the dungeon, forcing them to rely on stealth until they are strong enough to take one on in a fight. Ridley can be a gold or red dragon of an appropriate size for the party’s level, who blasts them from afar with its fiery breath or goes in for a close encounter with its claws and tail.

The standard D&D monsters that the players face can still be the ones from the Monster Manual. It’s just up to the DM to give alter their appearance to match the setting, rather than coming up with brand new creatures from scratch. It’s easy to turn goblins and kobolds into deformed lab experiments, skeletons into shuffling Terminator-style androids, and giant bats intro the Skree from Metroid. There are lots of official Dungeons & Dragons monsters that are ready to be used and can easily have the description and behavior changed, in order to fit a Metroid campaign.

About The Author

Scott Baird
(2512 Articles Published)

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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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