Let's build a campaign...

**Digital Arcanist** · 12-20-2007, 10:00 PM

Well since I am in the midst of a bout of laziness, and well everyone else is doing it, give me some ideas for a new campaign. There are but a few parameters to keep in mind:

1. I play by the rules included in the PHB and DMG with no modifications.

2. I allow the "Complete" and "Races of" books in my campaign for player use but I use all the books to get monsters and items.

3. I DM in homebrew settings only and I use the generic D&D pantheon but this time I am leaning towards a Phaoric or Norse pantheon.

4. There must be at least 1 dragon and 1 dungeon somewhere in the campaign.

My parameters aren't too constraining in my opinion and everyone who has contributed to the previous threads have had some tremendous ideas.

Go forth and spew ideas!!!!!!

**Malruhn** · 12-20-2007, 10:05 PM

Before I spew, I need some more constraints. (sorry!)

What era/age/tech level are we at and what style civilization is this? Is this circa 600 CE northern European, circa 1200 CE southern African, next week's northern American or what?

Are you looking for a total creation, or using an established map?

How in depth are we to go? Do you want an entire website with something akin to the Silmarillian, or is a long post of about 1000 words overkill?

Thanks for the challenge!!

**Drohem** · 12-20-2007, 10:08 PM

I love dwarves! Make this campaign dwarfcentric instead of humancentric, which is the D&D default.

**Digital Arcanist** · 12-20-2007, 10:14 PM

Basically I just need some campaign ideas and maybe some adventure ideas. I'm looking for just a plot for the campaign really.

Once I know the plot and know some general geographic things (neighboring countries, lich far to the north is extending his grasp south, etc.) then I will build the world. Building the world is the easy part since I use only what's in the books I mentioned.

As for technology, I use only what's presented in the books because the players can quick reference it and I don't need to show them anything. The only thing hi-tech I allow is flying vessels like dirigibles but they are purchased and not made by the PC's unless there are some serious extenuating circumstances.

**Maelstrom** · 12-21-2007, 04:55 AM

General questions:
Is this going to be starting at 1st level?
How long do you want the campaign to last? A year? Until 4th edition arrives?

All right, so we have a classic D&D world where everything goes. I would assume there is a good mix of races and classes available, some really big cities as well as rural areas. How about narrowing the field by looking at who the ultimate evil force of badness is?

We know there is a Dragon involved. Has it been too long since he's had adventurer snacks so he's bored and plotting evilness instead of counting coins? Or is he just a mere minion? Or is he a distraction from the plot?

Is the primary villian a lich like you mentioned? Dracolich? Mummy? Beholder? Demigod? Drow queen? Or the King of a neighboring country that is seeking domination in more traditional means?

**Skunkape** · 12-21-2007, 07:03 AM

I had an idea for my next campaign which will heavily involve two of my players. One of them will be the descendant of the deposed ruler of the country where the main thrust of the campaign takes place, and the other will be the descendant of the individual most responsible for the ruler's loss of position.

Neither one knows much about their past as their ancestors died during this civil war and the children of their ancestors were placed in foster care with no one realizing who they were. As fate would have it, the two player characters have grown up together without ever realizing their legacy and have become close friends.

Their ancestors' roles in the history of the country will be brought out during the game and I haven't quite worked out all of those details yet! Course, a lot of what my players do during the game will help me flush out those same details. That's the main outline for the campaign.

Now, how do I determine which of my players are the two? First I will sit down with all of the players together and explain that two of them will be the main plot points of the campaign and it will be determined randomly. They'll all roll dice, either a 20 sider or percentile dice. The highest and lowest two rolls will be the winners and whether you want the highest to be the deposed monarch or turncoat, it's up to you.

A few questions that I leave you with, was the king good or evil?
Did his fall help the country or hurt it?
Are the people looking for the return of the true king, or would they prefer he never show up again?

The answers to those questions will affect the flavor of the whole campaign.

**Digital Arcanist** · 12-21-2007, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by Maelstrom

General questions:
Is this going to be starting at 1st level?
How long do you want the campaign to last? A year? Until 4th edition arrives?

All right, so we have a classic D&D world where everything goes. I would assume there is a good mix of races and classes available, some really big cities as well as rural areas. How about narrowing the field by looking at who the ultimate evil force of badness is?

We know there is a Dragon involved. Has it been too long since he's had adventurer snacks so he's bored and plotting evilness instead of counting coins? Or is he just a mere minion? Or is he a distraction from the plot?

Is the primary villian a lich like you mentioned? Dracolich? Mummy? Beholder? Demigod? Drow queen? Or the King of a neighboring country that is seeking domination in more traditional means?

Players will start at 1st level and I want it to ideally last to 20th level but usually games sputter out around 15th level so I'll make that the end point and if its still going strong then I'm sure I can prolong the plot.

As for everything else.....you tell me!!! I'm dry of creative juices and I'm looking to the community. Be warned though....if you name something I will probably change the name if its not awesomely cool or too hard for me to pronounce.

As I said before, I allow all races and classes in the books I mentioned but there are no level adjustments.

**Digital Arcanist** · 12-21-2007, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Skunkape

I had an idea for my next campaign which will heavily involve two of my players. One of them will be the descendant of the deposed ruler of the country where the main thrust of the campaign takes place, and the other will be the descendant of the individual most responsible for the ruler's loss of position.

Neither one knows much about their past as their ancestors died during this civil war and the children of their ancestors were placed in foster care with no one realizing who they were. As fate would have it, the two player characters have grown up together without ever realizing their legacy and have become close friends.

Their ancestors' roles in the history of the country will be brought out during the game and I haven't quite worked out all of those details yet! Course, a lot of what my players do during the game will help me flush out those same details. That's the main outline for the campaign.

Now, how do I determine which of my players are the two? First I will sit down with all of the players together and explain that two of them will be the main plot points of the campaign and it will be determined randomly. They'll all roll dice, either a 20 sider or percentile dice. The highest and lowest two rolls will be the winners and whether you want the highest to be the deposed monarch or turncoat, it's up to you.

A few questions that I leave you with, was the king good or evil?
Did his fall help the country or hurt it?
Are the people looking for the return of the true king, or would they prefer he never show up again?

The answers to those questions will affect the flavor of the whole campaign.

I envy you and your cooperative players. I can never get my players to stick to any plot like you have mentioned, let alone the back story of their own creation. It seems like history to them is as fluid as the Mountain Dew they imbibe during each session.

How about a slight twist....The king was kindly and well-loved but could not properly run his kingdom which ultimately led to the suffering. So if there is no heir, then the kingdom is under the control of a regent?

**DrAwkward** · 12-21-2007, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by Digital Arcanist

Well since I am in the midst of a bout of laziness, and well everyone else is doing it, give me some ideas for a new campaign. There are but a few parameters to keep in mind:

1. I play by the rules included in the PHB and DMG with no modifications.

2. I allow the "Complete" and "Races of" books in my campaign for player use but I use all the books to get monsters and items.

3. I DM in homebrew settings only and I use the generic D&D pantheon but this time I am leaning towards a Phaoric or Norse pantheon.

4. There must be at least 1 dragon and 1 dungeon somewhere in the campaign.

My parameters aren't too constraining in my opinion and everyone who has contributed to the previous threads have had some tremendous ideas.

Go forth and spew ideas!!!!!!

Beowulf.

**DrAwkward** · 12-21-2007, 06:44 PM

Viking setting, Norse gods with heavy (and usually unwanted) involvement with mortals. High power and fast-paced adventures with lots of finicky artifact level items. (By finicky I mean they come and go - warn the party not to get attached to them).

The Raid (Levels 1-3) Its the last part of the raiding season, and the Horn of the Vindigust was stolen by a rival tribe. The seasoned veterans are all due back in two weeks, at which time they either leave immediately and risk sailing in bad weather, or seethe through the winter. There is a new longship just built, and a crew of young and eager vikings ready to sail her. The party may convince the King to let them sail off with her in an attempt to reclaim the Horn before it reaches the far shores and it takes a war to get it back. An old and hardened viking comes out of retirement to whip the crew into shape and captain the ship, as long as there are brave whelps ready to do all the fighting.

The Horn is supposed to be able to summon a great flying creature (like a WindGhost) that ferries folks from mortal mountains to Asgard, bypassing the Bifrost bridge. Loki has been trying to get his hands on it to shuttle fell troops during Ragnarok, so it mustn't fall into his hands.

The Rutting Drake (levels 4-6) Frost Giants are breeding a new horrible beast called "Winter Wolves" by mating Dire Wolves with a captive Young Adult White Dragon. The giants keep and train the best to serve as hunting hounds, but the runts they throw to the wild to fend for themselves. These runts grow up mean and spiteful, and take it out on the humans. They start attacking Midwinter, when all normal creatures are huddled in thier dens. While the party cannot take on the giants directly (yet), they can go kill the dragon to end the source. These new beasts do not breed true, so it ends the threat.

Temple of Lesser Flame (levels 3-4) This is a dungeon crawl to level up the party to face the Dragon. Its a ruined temple to Surtur, smashed by the Frost giants long ago. It probably has a salamander or something at the end, by a shrine to Surtur. The fire giant god will be happy to "lend them strength" for their task -- a loan of a nice flaming burst longsword. You can have it melt when the dragon dies - scarring the hands of the wielder in a pattern to show they've bargained with the god of fire (gives social penalties when dealing with Thor's worshippers, and bonuses when dealing with Fire creatures).

**ronpyatt** · 12-22-2007, 08:43 AM

In a distant valley the prosperous town of Lagothenn has commissioned the construction of a skyward market/arena/center of exchange/castle that will expand the town and will offer some protection from the rare monster sightings.

The construction of this sky castle has been thwarted by someone unknown at every step of the process thus far.

Small rewards have been offered for protection, information, and tracking of suspected culprits.

**Digital Arcanist** · 12-22-2007, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by ronpyatt

In a distant valley the prosperous town of Lagothenn has commissioned the construction of a skyward market/arena/center of exchange/castle that will expand the town and will offer some protection from the rare monster sightings.

The construction of this sky castle has been thwarted by someone unknown at every step of the process thus far.

Small rewards have been offered for protection, information, and tracking of suspected culprits.

I'm liking this little seed Ron. So the party uncovers a group trying to manipulate the area. They can fight through the group all the while discovering this group is but one finger on a hand trying to crush the kingdom/region. Throw in some necromancers, a couple demons, and a dark god bent on conquest and there is lot of ground to cover!!!!

This is great...let's keep it coming!!!

**rabkala** · 12-22-2007, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by Digital Arcanist

I'm liking this little seed Ron. So the party uncovers a group trying to manipulate the area. They can fight through the group all the while discovering this group is but one finger on a hand trying to crush the kingdom/region. Throw in some necromancers, a couple demons, and a dark god bent on conquest and there is lot of ground to cover!!!!

This is great...let's keep it coming!!!

I would have them fight numerous apparent threats and then finally find the truths. Something like...

So, the town of Lagothenn is in a small border country/kingdom known as Jarlstedt.

To the east are the more barbaric nomadic Aristorff tribe that, while related to these peoples, abhor the settled trappings of the civilized west. They raid the rich area of Jarlstedt frequently when times get tough for them. Several of the big warlords of the Aristorff have turned to strange advisers from a far off land who have recently come to the area in these recent tough times. The new advisers practice necromancy and the dark arts.

To the North-East, the great forests and mountains of Buronstatt. These forests and mountains are home of the truly nasty wild things like the dreaded Frost giants. I would leave this as a good distraction and source of red herrings to throw off the party of heroes.

To the North-West, the ocean. (Maybe a wise Sigmund the seamonster or invading Sleestack like creatures which really have nothing to do with the story again.)

The West holds several slightly more 'civilized' countries which are secretly grateful for the buffer that Jarlstedt provides. The West has relatively good trade relations with them, but still look down on them to an extent. Several of these countries have a presence mucking about the area trying to maximize their potential profit, help the undertaking, or keep the area as a wild barrier.

To the South, Ubel, a similar country on the border of the wild. They hate the people of Jarlstedt due to their prosperity in the face of similar obstacles. Ubel plans to build its own trade meca before the Lagothenn enterprise can come to fruition.

The king of Jarlstedt is a complete pawn of an money-hungry old dragon. The smart dragon has been secretly pulling the strings in the country for years as his horde grows. The dragon is the true mastermind behind the Lagothenn undertaking as he knows that it will enrich his horde even faster.

There is a mysterious MIB like influence which appears to be the main opponents to the Lagothenn project. The group will go after the MIB faction as they appear to be bad at first. Later, the adventures can find that they are agents of good gods (like Heimdal) whom really just oppose the dragon.

There are factions of the dark Aristorff advisers who look to extend the influence of their dark gods into this region. They are general nasty people who look to undermine everything in the region, which just happens to include the Lagothenn venture.

**Digital Arcanist** · 12-23-2007, 12:18 PM

Dang it!!!!....my creative juices are flowing but I have to put off any writing until this evening so I can go to the movies with my family.....sometimes I know the universe is conspiring against me....

**Maelstrom** · 12-23-2007, 04:33 PM

Hmm... just thinking as I type. So what good is a floating city if it can't move from place to place? I'd imagine that the Lagothenn would like the ability to move the entire air-market in case of danger or economic advantage in addition to the prestige of having such a wonder.

Artificers and arcane magic users of all lands would come flocking hoping to join in the project, while neighboring nations (especially Ubel to the south) would want to try to beat them to the punch, trying to create their own floating market first.

This competition underway, the floating air markets would instead be built as fortresses, expecting that others might try to take it by force.

Meanwhile, deep behind the scenes the machinations of the dragon can be found as he encourages the arms race, making sure that his own floating city gets the best defences while the other suffers sabatage. His end goal having a sky-based fortress of his own that he can use to dominate the lands once and for all.