Campaign Brainstorming

[BSF]

While I do not have an ending point in mind for this campaign, that doesn't mean I don't look ahead to what new campaigns might be like. That is part of why I like to put together my own homebrew type worlds.

Actually, I very much have ideas on future campaigns. All sorts of changes and differences. You guys already see some of these crop up in house rules. Other ideas sometimes come up when I am talking with some of you. I am very seriously considering putting together a complete OGC package for the next campaign. Something that would have all the different mechanics, alternate classes, etc. It would be kind of like a campaign specific player's handbook. But it would be in PDF format. This isn't to say that other books wouldn't be useful. Every player would benefit to some degree from at least a PHB and perhaps other books. It's just that I would be codifying all the house rules and they would be found in one location.

I know that over time some, if not all, of you will move on with different things in life. But I am interested in hearing things that you all seem to like. So when you have the chance to think on things, please stop by the thread and reply with your thoughts on various ideas.

Thanks!

 

[BSF]

Fantastic Landscapes

I like having nice, normal landscapes for the 'workhorse' view of the world. But there should also be fantastic locations. Places that are unusual and unique. While the workhorse view is what normal people see in the world, the fantastic is what adventurers find, well, adventure in.

At least that is my view. I try to provide a couple of fantastic locations throughout each campaign. I don't think we have brought as many of these in ithis time, but they are out there. Part of it, of course, is you guys going to them. But allow me to toss out a few Fantastic Locations and maybe you will share your thoughts on them?

• The Shrine of Tranquility - You guys travelled there in the last campaign. I borrowed a bit of flavor for this from my DM in my current game. But, I also put in a few twists of my own.
• The Road to the Gods - It looks mundane, but you guys have never tried to reach the end.
• Nalmeth's Knap - The Knap is supposed to elicit a completely different feeling from most of the adventure locations you guys go to. I mean, you are supposed to get R&R there, not combat.
• Assorted semi/demi/extra planar locations from the last campaign. Ranging from the branching planes at the Shrine of Tranquility (including my first dream plane) to some of the wacky places near the Mad God's tomb.
• The Glades of Avondell - A transient plane bridging the material plane and other places.
• The green dragon's dream realm where you rescued a faerie princess.
• Mt Ternell & the Bowels of Mhata Nahal
• Mt Korliss - Which was mostly lost on you because the person that can perceive the true spiritual nature of the place had just left the group.

There are rumors of other places out there. White Plume Mountain and the Floating Peaks could certainly classify as potentially fantastic. Until you guys get there, you won't really know.

But should I work more toward integrating fantastic locations or should I focus more on mundane locations with fantastic adversaries? Do we want and need a wizards tower floating in a magma lake in the middle of an active volcano? Do we need bottomless pits? What do you think? What makes for a more fun game? Don't just think of future games. There are plenty of opportunities to introduce such things in the current campaign.

 

[Eeralai]

I like the mix of fantastic and mundane places. I have always wanted to do more with the road to the Gods, but there never seemed to be time for it in the last campaign. Gwen did seek out the floating tower to unlock ninth level magic for herself, and that was pretty cool. Especially finding the loophole to resurect Silas.

For the angels campaign, I'm not sure what would be fantastic for the angels. Is the mundane fantastic to them? What would happen if they tried the road to the gods? Would it just be going home? They currently live someplace where the land is a diety. I think that is fantastic! Especially since the gods seemed surprised by it.

I would include the Glade of Elanahih as being fantastic if you are considering Nalmeth's Knap to be fantastic. I always thought of the knap as a Yellowstone type place without park rangers and tourists. And there is also a Fey area throughout David's world that would be interesting for the current group to discover. But I am probably the one most interested in the fey so that group might not be interested

The Shrine of Tranquility was always one of my favorite places, and Deborah would've liked to return to the Glade if I had stayed in that game. So I guess I am saying I like everything.

For the angels, I am expecting they will go to hell, and I am sure that will be fantastic. I think for the angel's campaign we need to start doing some online roleplay, so be looking for me to post there soon

 

[BSF]

Alignment & Morality

D&D heavily relies on the concept of good and evil, order (called law) and chaos. It is possible to downplay these elements in the game and to leave morality a lot more ambiguous. But I am pretty sure Gary Gygax's ideas were to have a heroic game where good trimuphs over evil and gets phat lewt in the process.

OK, maybe he wouldn't have said it like that. But the fact remains that there are spells like Protection from Evil, monsters like devas and demons, and items like the Holy Avenger and the Book of Exalted Deeds. In order for all of this to remain consistent, you need to have solid concepts of good and evil.

In that context, ambiguous or relative morality has a much more difficult time existing. In some ways this is good. If evil is always evil, you don't need to worry about the moral quandry of what you are doing. You are wiping out evil! On the other hand, playing with shades of grey can lead to some wonderful RP moments. However it is a little more challenging to have both. Primarily because in the end, the judgement call will be by the DM. Because it would be possible to have an act that is considered as evil, but was in the best interests of whatever group you are serving. That quandry can create tension at the table. Not good tension, like strong RP, but bad tension where there are real life hurt feelings. That's why I try to lay these things out in advance.

D&D has the obvious alignment system. When using that, I prefer the scaled alignment as presented by Monte Cook in the Book of Hallowed Might. We are currently using that system. But there is another option.

D20 Modern presented the idea of Allegiances. These can be found in HTML format at http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/srd/srd_modern_html/msrdallegiances.html. Essentially each PC would choose allegiances and work toward the best interests of that allegiance. These are interesting because they contain elements for morality, ethics, belief, nationalism, organizations, etc. It would be interesting to bring in elements such as allegiances and then modify classes, spells, items, etc to better fit within that framework. Sure, it would be a lot of work, but it would still be interesting.

What are your thoughts? Do you like/dislike the alignment system? Do you prefer absolute ethics & morality? Or would you like to see more of a variant scale?

 

[Fists.o.Fury]

So far I like every aspect of our game. The mechanics, although ever changing, are really great and the story is even better. For me there hasn't been any changes that I dislike. Perhaps that is because I tend to voice my opionion when I don't like something or vice versa.

As a player I'm not sure how long I will be playing with this group. If I had it my way it'd be until the day I die - But unfortunately we don't always get our way! If I had to take a guess the point in time to question my participation in campaigns with this group will be when I finish school. Granted that's not going to be for a while yet - so let us play on!

I really think a complete OGC for this campaign is a great idea! If you need any help let me know!

I know I've said it a lot but I love everything about our campaign and even our last. What I love in a story is that feeling of Epic, Grand, Overwhelming odds and true feats of pure heorism, honor or pain and anguish (depending on the situation). I love to hear about the world in a way that I can picture it clearly. I love to be able to feel the impact things have on our character and the impact our character's have on the world - And BSF - you do an awesome job at providing me with that experience.

Regarding the fantastic places I agree with Eeralai. A mix, especially the one we have had and have now, are great. I really enjoy having those places that other, common folk, can't get to. It definately helps portray that feeling of power from our characters. On top of that these places tend to have more of an impact on our characters for obvious reasons. But I also feel mundane places put things into perspective and make the world seem more real and playable. If there was a world where 'fantasitc' places were more common it would be hard to relate to say... the struggles of common people. I guess that's just my feeling.

As far as Alignment is considered I like it now. The alliegance idea sounds good but I really think changing it would be a bit more work then needed. It's a great Idea for a different campaign but I say we just keep our alignment mechanics the same for now. The Variant rules we're using bring more variability to alignments and that's what I like. Absolutes are fun in their own right. But since playing with the variant I don't think I'd like to go back.

Finally I must say I agree with Eeralai again. Our Agents camapign needs some Online RP - I think I'll post up a story when I get some free time. I have a great idea!

 

[BSF]

Allow me to be clear. Most of these questions and ideas are in relation to a future campaign. Yes, some can be implemented immediately, but something as deep as the foundation of alignment is not an easy replacement in the middle of a campaign. It could be done, of course, but it wouldn't be easy.

So what does everyone think of these possibilities for future use?

 

[BSF]

Technology

So the next major question is about technology. What is a good technology level? Most D&D games have a presumption of a pseudo medeival technology level. There is a lot of inconsistency with that sort of thing, but as a baseline assumption, it still works.

Nevertheless, there is a lot of interesting connotations that can be derived by extrapolating magic and it's technological implications. Do you guys like the idea of clockwork mechanisms and magipowered engines? Is something like a fleet of flying ships too far out there? What about magic-powered cannon? Guns? Timekeeping devices? Should these things exist or do you have interest in keeping it more medeival?

How prevalent should these things be? Should a reasonably wealthy city have continual flame lamps on every street corner? Should magically empowered writing styluses be as common as the ball-point pen? Should we be looking at a more updated technology driven by magic rather than fossil fuels?

Should we use a world where such things were once common but some great catastrophe occurred and now you have lost civilizations with fantastic technology? Perhaps that is like Eberron? I honestly don't know since I haven't looked at Eberron.

Would you prefer to go even further back to the bronze age? What kind of technology would be interesting to work with and be fun to play in?

 

[Fists.o.Fury]

Technology is a great topic! I really think this is where many stories and even games shine and have their unique touch.

I no longer relate DnD directly to Medieval settings but more of a mix of medieval through to gunpowder. I like the idea of clockwork and magic machines but not 'real world' machines like a combustion engine. That's to 'real' for me. I'm playing a game to imagine things we can't truly have!

But there also has to be a medium for the majority of the world. I personally wouldn't like a setting where such mechanisms or technologies were commonplace. Instead I prefer these things to be 'high class' or extremely rare. One thing I'd like to see more of though would be Gunpowder. Again though - not as a common technology.

Wealth of cities really should depend on the location and, obviously, economic status. I percieve Stormhaven as being a wealthy city. This is where I would imagine these technologies could be found easier and where other things like 'ever burning lamps' would be common.

In all I like the general 'medieval' feel with spurts or doses of higher or different cultures/technologies. If we were to use gunpowder in a future campaign I would like it to be accessible by characters!

 

[BSF]

Technology is a great topic! I really think this is where many stories and even games shine and have their unique touch.

I no longer relate DnD directly to Medieval settings but more of a mix of medieval through to gunpowder. I like the idea of clockwork and magic machines but not 'real world' machines like a combustion engine. That's to 'real' for me. I'm playing a game to imagine things we can't truly have!

But there also has to be a medium for the majority of the world. I personally wouldn't like a setting where such mechanisms or technologies were commonplace. Instead I prefer these things to be 'high class' or extremely rare. One thing I'd like to see more of though would be Gunpowder. Again though - not as a common technology.

Wealth of cities really should depend on the location and, obviously, economic status. I percieve Stormhaven as being a wealthy city. This is where I would imagine these technologies could be found easier and where other things like 'ever burning lamps' would be common.

In all I like the general 'medieval' feel with spurts or doses of higher or different cultures/technologies. If we were to use gunpowder in a future campaign I would like it to be accessible by characters!

A few questions then. You wouldn't want to see an internal combustion engine, but what about a magical engine that essentially serves the same type of purpose? Let's consider the necromantic engine that powered the flying ship. Essentially it servers as a replacement for an internal combustion engine powering an amphibious plane right? Good or bad?

It sounds like you prefer the existence of high technology to still have a touch of the fantastic about it. Not common, but not unattainable either. Maybe more third world feel?

 

[BSF]

Damage, dying and death (And Armor too!)

OK, we all know hit points. I'm sure we all see how they are an abstraction at best and don't necessarily reflect pure physical damage that your PC receives. How does everyone feel about HP? Love the mechanic? Hate the mechanic? Somewhere in between?

We have instituted different rules for death and dying. I think everyone is fine with those. Admittedly it would be nice if we knew the rules for the mechanics a little better. But that will come with practice.

Does all of this make the game more enjoyable? It doesn't matter how you define enjoyable, is it more enjoyable for you?

There are several types of variants on damage. There is the wounds/vitality system used in Spycraft and Star Wars D20. There is the lower Massive Damage Threshold used in D20 Modern and Grim Tales. There is the damage save mechanic in True20. Of the mentioned variants, I am less interested in Wounds/vitality.

The lower Massive Damage Threshhold works like this. If you suffer an attack that exceeds your Con in damage, you take the damage and roll a fort save. If you fail the save, you fall unconscious and start dying. This was designed to keep weapons dangerous in the D20 Modern ruleset. Using it would definitely change the flavor of a D&D game.

The damage save mechanic in True20 uses the damage dealt to force a save. If you fail the save, you move down in conditions. Dazed, Staggered, Wounded, Unconscious, Disabled, Dying and Dead are all conditions. You don't track HP, you just track your current condition. Obviously this has quite a few different trickledown effects in things like curative and damaging magic. But it is an option.

Of course, maybe we don't want to change anything from normal HP as well.

On a related note, how about armor? In D&D armor makes you harder to hit. It also weighs a lot and stuff. In many other systems, armor doesn't necessarily make you harder to hit, it prevents you from taking damage. There is a variant where armor provides damage reduction rather than a pure AC bonus. As an example, a chain shirt would provide +2 to AC and 2 DR. Plate mail would provide +4 AC and 4 DR. This might make you a little easier to hit, but it also makes you tougher to hurt.

Alternatively there is a system where armor converts some or all of the damage inflicted to subdual. You get bruised from a hit, but maybe it wasn't solid enough to really hurt.

Obviously all of these ideas are pretty significant. It might be easier to just go with the standard rules. But hey, I am discussing options to see what folks might be interested in. If I don't bring it up, it is hard to discuss.