Suggestions needed...

a2ndchapter · Aug 2, 2007

My nephew turns 21 this Sunday and he's been a gamer (mainly D&D) for the past 8 years or so thanks to my brainwashing. Anyway he's thinking about launching a new campaign for his group and turned to Uncle David to suggest something for him at which point I went "Ermmmmmmmmm."

I'm not a published campaign kinda GM for any system I'm running and usually only buy published adventures to mine them for ideas. So I'm asking for suggestions.

He has the core books for D&D 3.5 plus some of the D&D miniatures.

My initial thoughts were something like Shackled City but that might be out of my price bracket (£35 ish) so I'm looking for something cheaper but also good.

Thoughts?

Kristian Serrano · Aug 2, 2007

Are you looking for suggestions for campaign settings or adventure modules? Also, what type of campaigns does he typically enjoy?

If he just wants a campaign setting, I recommend Eberron. It's a strong, consistent setting that has room for any type of campaign. It's also knew so he can enjoy it from its starting point rather than a history-laden setting such as Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk. (For the record, I actually love Greyhawk.)

If he likes RPG campaigns set during a war, I would recommend Eberron Campaign Setting, Forge of War, and Heroes of Battle.

If he just wants a general setting that assumes Core Rules as is, you could get him Ptolus, but that's a bit pricey (the PDF fits your price range, though).

If he enjoys traditional dungeon crawls, there are dozens and hundreds of products to choose from.

a2ndchapter · Aug 2, 2007

It's a campaign I'm looking for really. I had considered getting him the Eberron setting but I'd rather get him something he can pick up and run.

He's more of a wilderness setting gamer, although isn't opposed to the odd dungeon crawl from time to time.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Festivus · Aug 2, 2007

I have a few suggestions you could look at:

War of the Burning Sky - A bit of everything in a war setting. Thus far it has been a very good read, I hope someday to get to run it. The price is right too, but the drawback is that it's not all published yet.

Red Hand of Doom - A megamodule / minicampaign that is mostly overland adventure with a few dungeons thrown in. Advantage is that it's going to cost less than War of the Burning Sky, but won't have enough material to run as long as the WotBS would.

Shattered Gates of Slaughtergaurde - A campaign in one package. I have been forbidden from reading it so I can't say what it's about but it states it's a entire campaign for level 1 to 7.

Kristian Serrano · Aug 2, 2007

So a written adventure module that's more of a full campaign than a module?

Hmm. That's tough, but in all honesty, if he's been gaming for 8 years, I think he'd be OK with a setting and some supplements.

I would go with Eberron as it has dozens of wilderness areas to explore including Q'barra, the Eldeen Reaches, the entire continent of Xen'drik, the Shadow Marches, and dozens of other places all over the world.

Secrets of Xen'drik is an excellent sourcebook that acts as toolkit for creating encounters and adventures in Xen'drik with a section for the frontier city of Stormreach.

Revisiting the war campaign idea, this is actually a solid idea for wilderness campaigns. where else are battles fought? Additionally, Heroes of Battle isn't about mass battles; it's about special strategic and tactical missions that focus the action on the party. Combine that with the idea of setting the campaign in the Eldeen Reaches and you have a match made in heaven.

Besides, multiple sourcebooks will get more mileage than a single adventure campaign book. Think of that approach as the gift that keeps on giving.

dmccoy1693 · Aug 2, 2007

I'm particularly fond of Kingdoms of Kalamar by Kenzer. It's been around for a while, has plenty of support material and (considering that their licence to use the name "Dungeons and Dragons" on their books is about to expire) you can get the Core and the Atlas for the price of the Core (The Atlas is HUGE).

If he wants something totally different, you might want to check out Castlemourn by Ed Greenwood of Forgotten Realms fame. It's a post-apocopyptic d20 fantasy game. Plenty of wilderness creatures while still having some political/social intrigue if the players desire that.

a2ndchapter · Aug 2, 2007

amaril said:
So a written adventure module that's more of a full campaign than a module?

Well not a full campaign, more a starter as it were. Something from 1st to 5th or similar. Ideally it would give a him a setting (of sorts) to play within with a series of adventures to run and still have enough information left over for him to run his own stuff in it.

Eberron is getting a lot of nods at the moment but I'd need to get him the campaign setting book first and then some other stuff but that's not going to happen for his birthday. I suppose I'm looking for something a bit more instantly playable than a new campaign setting.

Philotomy Jurament · Aug 2, 2007

Coils of Set
Lost City of Barakus
Caverns of Thracia

Kristian Serrano · Aug 2, 2007

escapistthx said:
Eberron is getting a lot of nods at the moment but I'd need to get him the campaign setting book first and then some other stuff but that's not going to happen for his birthday. I suppose I'm looking for something a bit more instantly playable than a new campaign setting.

I'm just trying to understand your limits here. Why wouldn't it happen for his birthday, and why does he need something instantly playable? FYI, the Eberron Campaign Setting comes with a first-level adventure that kicks off a campaign continued in the Eberron modules Shadows of the Last War, Whispers of the Vampire's Blade, and Grasp of the Emerald Claw.

Aside from that, I think you'll be hard pressed to find something with so many constraints (wilderness, levels 1-5, not setting specific, etc.).

I've heard decent things about Lost City of Barakus, but I've never played it. I'm not sure it's wilderness, though.

Something else to consider is Paizo's GameMastery adventure modules. They are coded to reflect the type of adventure they are (i.e. W = wilderness, D = dungeon, etc). While not the large range of levels you are looking for, there are a handful of them being released this month. *shrug*

Anyway, I've thrown out all of the ideas I can think of. Good luck!