How to Use Dungeons & Dragons' Most Terrifying Homebrew Monster (False Hydra)
How to Use Dungeons & Dragons' Most Terrifying Homebrew Monster (False Hydra)
The false hydra is a terrifying homebrew creature in Dungeons & Dragons that, if used right, can offer one of the best TTRPG experiences out there.
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By far the best way I've found to use the false Hydra so far is a week or two ahead of a session, to send out a link about the false Hydra to your group and be like "look at this neat monster I found!" Then present them with a story about people disappearing from a village and watch them invent their own false Hydra.
The double fake
Tricking the players into genociding a village because a NPC has dementia
If you wanna de-metagame the same idea, share it in world as folklore then 'break character' to gush about it.
If the players dig deep enough about the false hydra they 'discover' they'd find it's a rumour spread by the person who also spread the folklore in world, perhaps they're a serial killer or supporting some form of underground railroad or something.
The only thing this doesn't fix is the root issue of "if you know there are people disappearing, then it's not a false hydra".
I've found that in general it doesn't matter. If the party gets in their head that it's a False Hydra, then they will typically ignore or justify the discrepancy.
Slow down there, Satan.