General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
New Raul
Magic is failing because of a disjunction caused by the late sorceress Crystal Rose, the dethroned self styled White Queen. The wizards of the world are searching for items of power from which to free enough magic to stablize the plane's waning finite supply. A large source of magic is detected in the southern desert, and the Wizard's School of Grensha is sending new prospective professors to find the source and release it's magic. The source, however, turns out to be a subterranian civilization of humans, living in caverns and underground cities so infused with magic that it's seeped into their very beings. These people, wielding wild magical talents and following a strange religion know nothing of the hardships above, and live in peace with eachother on the bounty provided for them by their god, Janeth. But not all is as it seems, for some recall a Wizard by that name who had been searcing for the secret of immortality who was killed by demons some eighty years ago, when their god left them saying he would return. To this day they await him, and some believe these newcomers to be gods from Janeth's world. But are they good gods, or bad gods?
Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die (d20 Modern Campaign):
The players start in a room with no exits. In the middle of the room is a large phone booth. If the players pick it up, they die.
Hey Mythus...are you using Northern Crown from Atlas Games? It might help you out on that one.
(Also, if you like Alt History and need some more campaign fodder, consider reading Marvel Comics' 1602, or The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson, CJ Cherryh's Sword of Knowledge trilogy as well as innumberable AH books by Harry Turtledove and S.M. Stirling.)
No money for either I'm afraid. I can recommend The Years of Rice and Salt as well as Turtledove and Stirling.
In any case, A Distant Mirror is set some time before 1602 and starts from a far different PoD. And I'm in a position where I really don't want the work of others sneaking into mine, even inadvertly, since it could lead to accusations of plagiarism. I don't want that.
Truth of Half-Men: The PC's whom have been making a name for themselves in the Matriarchal Jungle Kingdom of Dridi find themselves caught up with disappearing villages and strange creatures from another plane. Everything seems to point towards the Legendary Half-Men who visited well before the Great Darkness. No one seems to know who they are or even if they are really good or utter evil, but whispers coming in from the Clan Lands say that the Half-Men are returning.
Mistledale. Heroes defend their homeland from enemies within and without, as the machinations of evils new and old presage the return of a dead god.
Some campaign ideas I'd consider for the future:
CSI: Waterdeep. As special investigators for the Waterdeep Watch, a group of eclectic heroes investigates crimes from the mundane to the supernatural.
We Were Soldiers. A group of former mercenaries heads to the frontier to make peace, new lifes, and new homes for themselves. But it seems they cannot leave behind their warlike ways ... or perhaps their past is hunting them down.
An adventure idea that still haunts me:
A Soldier of the Last War. Locals and travellers have begun disappearing near a wood haunted by a battle-scarred veteran of the Last War who shuns all contact.
__________________ "The Soul of D&D?It's rolling a natural 20 when you're down to 3 hit points and the cleric's on the floor and you're staring that sunnavabitch bugbear right in his bloodshot eye and holding the line just long enough to let the wizard unleash a fireball at the guards who are on their way, because they're all that stands between you, the Foozle and Glory." - WizarDru
Bouncing Here and There and Everywhere: A race of small humanoids (goblins, kobolds, halflings, what have you) discover a non-magical recipe for a potion of jumping. Elated, they begin to mass produce the elixir for use in raiding human settlements. However, it is accidentally discovered that, when consumed by larger races (such as humans), the potion acts as a potion of strength. Now the wee race must protect the recipe from the conniving humans, who want to steal the recipe for themselves, while simultaneously using it in excess to performs all sorts of larceny. Hilarity ensues.
Yeah, I stole it.
So what?
No one under the age of, oh, 20 should have any idea what I'm talking about. Happy anniversary, that cartoon I copied!
CSI: Waterdeep. As special investigators for the Waterdeep Watch, a group of eclectic heroes investigates crimes from the mundane to the supernatural.
Funny you should say that. One of my higher level characters has created a new city-state that was recently flooded with refugees from a massive war. Thing is, they're refugees from one of the more populous countries, and they believe they have the rights to the land and the rule of the city. The city itself was designed for a couple of thousand people -- its population has swelled to 39,000!
My next character is going to be the child of said character. I have plans to make him a Monk/something gestalt and prestige into the Watch Detective class from the Masters of the Wild splatbook. I will get my "Gil" on and maintain the peace while investigating muders et al.
Return of the Fiddlin' Five This was my first campaign after a 15-year hiatus, so I kept it simple (and unoriginal, sue me). The PC's were hired by a kindly old cleric to find the members of his former adventuring group (my original, 1ed characters). Various clues led them across the Western Heartlands (FR) and, unbeknownst to them at first, caused them to come into contact with the Five's ancient evil sorcerer nemesis, who was after the same information.
Nothing near the scale of most of the posts in this thread, but they still say it's been their favorite.
__________________ Trying to find my old group from Louisville in the 80's. Dave Miller, Neal O'Koon (found!), Jamie Fish (found through here!)...
Cthulhu Undercover: Russa, Britain, and the U.S. have sent in their best to Nazi-occuppied 1944 Paris to join forces with the French resistance and uncover the next great Nazi threat. Top german scientists, including Von Braun and Heisenberg, are rumored to be secretly congregating within and under the city working on "the creation of world-spanning interstellar control". Risking their lives, exposure, and an unknowable madness around every turn, the undercover agents brave the streets, sewers, soldiers, and more in hopes to stop whatever unearthly doom now rises.
__________________ Apparently Reagan never played RPGs ...but he liked to watch.
Spoiler:
Participants in the Pentagon simulations were sometimes of very high rank, including members of Congress and White House insiders as well as senior military officers. The identity of many of the participants remains secret even today. It is a tradition in US simulations (and those run by many other nations) that participants are guaranteed anonymity. The main reason for this is that occasionally they may take on a role or express an opinion that is at odds with their professional or public stance (for example portraying a fundamentalist terrorist or advocating hawkish military action), and thus could harm their reputation or career if their in-game persona became widely known.
(cut)
...former US president Ronald Reagan was a keen visitor to simulations conducted in the 1980s, but as an observer only. An official explained: "No president should ever disclose his hand, not even in a war game". Para,6
Here are some of the campaigns I have run in the past:
Coming of Age A barbarian tradition forces their young to go through a trial or quest to denote their coming of age. Usually this has to do with raiding a neighboring village or hunting a special animal. Not this year. This year the candidates must discover and destroy the cause of concern, people gone missing, lack of wildlife and death of livestock which have hit the community over the last few months. Upon the trek they discover that a Demonologist and his demonic summonings and allies are trying to open a permenent gate between this world and the other plane. To allow the host to pull this world into theirs so that all can be devoured.
Weapons of the Queen It is a trying time for the Empire they face weakness from within and powerful aggressors from without. The hero's are tasked by the the Queen to find the legendary weapons of the Queen and to bring them back to defend the realm. However, the hero's who own the weapons are long since dead and are part of the lands myth and legend. So, where do they find these weapons and where are these hero's of old. The characters must piece together the legends to save the Empire. After many adventures and trials they return to the Empire where they find out that they are the Weapons of the Queen and all that went on before was to prepare them for the final encounter with the evil aggressor(s) and their place in history and myth.
End of an Age The PC's find themselves strangers overcome by dread in the dead of a queit moonless night. The air is heavy and oppressive as they lay next to a cold dark pond which is surrounded by many bushes and trees of deep green almost black. Around the this pond are many men dressed in a large array of uniforms and armor. All have the look of fear, confusion or even madness about their continence. Their armor and uniforms are tattered and torn, the weapons are battered, broken, worn or even missing. This motley group of people, including the PC's, are the remnant of a large army destroyed and overrun by an army of evil. Some speak of the regiment they were with and what happened to that regiment in the big battle. After a time an eerie sound breaks the silence the howl of a wolf. The enemy has found them. Can the PC's survive this and the future battles and harrassment they face? Can they overcome and through might, wit and luck bring down the enemy or is this the End of an Age.
Justice: In a prison in the deapths of Carceri, six prisoners are freed. By who? By what? It's vague and undetermined...they see only a swath of destruction as they struggle to free themselves from the deapths of the Prison Plane. They find that they are being manipulated by Yugoloths, using a Gautiere godslayer to threaten Apomps and restore their hidden tower on Carceri to power...do they side with the 'loths, and gain their freedom at the expense of releasing all the evil in Carceri onto the planes? Or do they side with the 'leths, and remain captive themselves?
Redemption: One of the prisoners, a human barbarian with no name, finds a way to go home, and to prove that he is not guilty of the cirme that fixed him in Carceri for a decade. He finds his home is overrun with an evil empire, and his childhood friends have grown up. He also finds that the true guilty criminal is no longer the wicked being that sent him away, but a struggling ruler trying to do what is best for his people. Will they restore the lost prince to his rightful throne? Or might it be a better idea for the prince to remain lost? And why are there Yugoloths here?!
Peace: A third prisoner, a maenad wilder, was guilty of his crime. Yet, it was Chaos that consumed him, not Evil. He returns to his home to find it a desolate wasteland, with undead souls in abundance. Does he have the strength to face his inner demons and gain control over his own fate? Or is he doomed to be haunted by the specter of what he has done?
Waterworld: A lightly toned (comedy)campaign world 90% covered with water, filled with pirates and the antipiracy militant sailors; "The Guard". Only one true nation ruled by a military commander, lots of independent tiny islands who are so spread out that they can not efficiently be governed. No magic users, but plenty of (semi) magical locations.
Good natured pirates and evil "Guard" and vice versa, an extremely rare kind of fruit that grants you a random, unique and often quite strange (super)power when eaten, as well as a great disadvantage. Tons of unexplored islands, and it's really not recommended to go sailing where "there be dragons".
Everyone having heard of, or being after one fabled treasure, though plenty of minor treasurehuntin' goes on along the way.
West, dreams drink the world away
In a young world, only a century settled from the forging thereof, a king's lands wither and his dead rise against him. No relief in sight, this king, Olothondor, the first of his name, beacon of the eastern shore, ruler of Prolodun'Rin, City of the Gleaming Star, commisions a party westerward across the plains in persuit of the rumored answer (or cause?) presumably raising a new empire opposite the untresspassed jungle of fallen dreams. Perilous the plains have become; Once overseen by a tribe of minotaur, they roam no longer, seemingly wiped out by their own plague of undead--or so it is believed. When jungle reached, what lies within no man or beast can proclaim, yet a legend foretells. A wyrmling dreams unnaturally behest a tentacled sorcerer's art beneath branches which saw the world born. Adventurers beware, what fate in store ahead, what cost? What power cometh Westward born? What cometh?
__________________ Go then. There are other worlds than these.
I once proposed this as part of a PC I submitted to a contest... "Give me what is mine..."
An old legend..."A proud warrior race sends an exploration party into the unknown East- they do not return for years. A second group is sent forth - one returns alive telling of a great treasure guarded by a terrible dracolitch, and brings back an ancient coin the size of a hand to prove his claim.
1 week later, the first wave of Undead strike the Race's homeland. The undead army is annihilated, but not without casualties.
The next week, the second wave of Undead attack, but this time the Dracolitch is leading them, and among their number are their own fallen from the previous strike!
Unable to bear the fury of the Dracolitch and the horror of their Undead kin, they break and scatter, the Dracolitch and his army following one of the groups...then another...in the same pattern, the army ever growing. Then reports of their fates die out.
No one knows what became of the coin- either the Dracolitch found his coin, was destroyed, or returned to his (uneasy) slumbers because he wearied of the chase.
The Race still long for their lost homeland. Because of this, they train the most ferocious undead hunters, each with the dream of being The One who destroys the Dracolitch.
Years later, in a bazaar across the sea..
"Hey...doesn't that Golden Dish look like the Coin from that old story about the Race and the Dracolitch?"
Bouncing Here and There and Everywhere: A race of small humanoids (goblins, kobolds, halflings, what have you) discover a non-magical recipe for a potion of jumping. Elated, they begin to mass produce the elixir for use in raiding human settlements. However, it is accidentally discovered that, when consumed by larger races (such as humans), the potion acts as a potion of strength. Now the wee race must protect the recipe from the conniving humans, who want to steal the recipe for themselves, while simultaneously using it in excess to performs all sorts of larceny. Hilarity ensues.
Yeah, I stole it.
So what?
No one under the age of, oh, 20 should have any idea what I'm talking about. Happy anniversary, that cartoon I copied!
You know, I've seen d20 stats for those bouncy little bears somewhere, but now I can't find them.
I too watched that cartoon and thought "What a messed up D&D game this would make!"
Land of the Little People this is THE one for GMs who have toys...the PCs use standard races & classes (& whatever the GM allows). The twist is that the PCs are all ACTUALLY 28mm tall! Think Fuzzy Knights but even smaller...any toy you have is a potential monster!
(Just went to Michael's Craft Store & bought a bunch of 5" long partially posable spiders, scorpions, and so forth, and got inspired.)
You know, I've seen d20 stats for those bouncy little bears somewhere, but now I can't find them.
I too watched that cartoon and thought "What a messed up D&D game this would make!"
I read the Gummy Bears campaign and started giggling, evilly...
Happy anniversary, that cartoon I copied!
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