Campaign Ideas/Plots - Need inspiration

[Jack7]

Our campaign involves two separate worlds.

Our world circa 800 AD, with the player characters set in Constantinople, in the Byzantine Empire. Our world is an all human world.

The other world is exactly like our geogrhaiclaly but is inhabited by Elves, Dwarves, Giants, etc, though they don't call themselves that.

Magic is real in the Other World, miracles are real in our world, but not the reverse.

The campaign therefore is about the interaction between these two worlds, the different races inhabiting them, the differences between "Magic" and "Thaumaturgy" (miracles), the Nephilim and God, and the different religious and political and cultural struggles on both worlds and how they effect each other.

Monsters from the other world also escape into ours on occasion.


As for me, Weem, and how I design campaigns - Wherever I design campaigns I always have an objective or set of objectives. In addition to the subject matter there is what the campaign is actually about. I personally never design campaigns to take characters from this level to that level, rather I design campaigns to be about things, specific things in the campaign world or milieu, and the level rise is an indirect result of achieving the objectives. If I had some idea of what your objective(s) is or are then I might could suggest some ideas to you.

Aside from the campaign the players are in now, which has run a long time, the best camping I ever wrote or created involved resurrecting the previously destroyed Kingdom of Pesh.

Another good campaign was the recovery of the various sections of the Rod of Seven Parts. Which tied into but was separate from the Resurrection of Pesh campaign.


A few future campaign ideas I've thought of include:

1. The New World - about the establishment of a non-human outpost area in the Frontiers on our world by Elves, Giants, etc. (Possibly in Sweden, Northern Germany, or Eastern Europe. There is already a human outpost, of a certain type, on the other world on what to us - in our world - would be the Isle of Wight, and that outpost is populated by human descendants of the Court of Kamelod [Arthur's Court]) The objective of the campaign would be to see if characters from the other world could successfully establish an outpost on our world, and what they would face in doing so, if they could survive doing so.

2. The Spiritual Labors - a sort of take-off of the Labors of Herakles, each section of which is associated with a Vice (a Sin, and the corresponding demon/devil representative of that sin), and with a Virtue. I've already gotten this mostly written but haven't played it yet.

3. The Return of the Nephilim - except this time they would not return to the other world (which they had originally visited, resulting in the race of Giants), but to our world.

4. The Wars of Prester John - Many of the Byzantines in our world consider the Elven Priest King (Samarl) of Kitharia on the other world the be Prester John. This campaign would be about the Samarl's attempt to move a large force of non-humans into our world to assist the Byzantines with an attempt to retake Egypt and Syria and Palestine from the Muslims, and to retake Armenia and various other lands from the Persians.

5. Men of the West - this would be a campaign about the party team launching an expedition into the Orient along the Silk Road in an attempt to explore India and even into China. It would be a Marco Polo type expedition to the East, but it would also involve supernatural and monstrous forces trying to obstruct them.

 

[Charger28Alpha]

Bodhiwolff hits the nail right on the head, with his (?) three points.

Only advice I would add is:

1) Pick a small geographic area (a City, a river valley, chain of islands, etc) and develop it. Place a few "dungeons", some "safe areas", and NPCs. These do not have to be highly detailed, just basic ideas.

2) Once that is done, look over your newly made area and come up with a few ideas of what type of campaign you would like to run there.

3) Then get the players together, give them a run down of your area, and tell them the ideas you came up with in 2). Let them choose what they want and then have them make their PCs. Encourage them to have shared back stories.


The first time I used the above method was many years ago.

The area I came up with was a series of large connected valleys in a major mountain range. The inhabitants were Clan based tribes that worshiped nature spirits. Twenty five years before the start of the game a more advanced kingdom had invaded, they wanted to mine the mountains, and quickly subdued the natives. They then built a series of keeps along the routes from the mines.

I came up with three ideas for the basis of the campaign. PCs as prospectors, searching for new mine sites. PCs as members of one of the tribes, either supporting the invaders or resiting them. PCs as settlers from the invading kingdom.

When we all got together the PCs went with a mix of the last two, two were from one of the tribes that had "joined" the invaders and the other three were former soldiers that had come to the valley to make their fortunes and eventually settle down.

They started as Caravan Guards and by the time we were done the PCs were leaders of a town that had been built outside of one of the keeps.

b) your campaign has to grow as a natural extension of your initial ideas and your player's reaction to these ideas. Furthermore, you want to include the player's interests, and the PC's backstories. The campaign doesn't develop all at once, but rather as a series of responses to the player's responses. You can try to guide it a little, but it is better if they wind up guiding it as well.

To me this piece of advice is the main key to running a successful game. As a DM/GM I love it when the PCs push the plot forward. If I didn't I would be a hypocrite, since as a PC I often push the plot forward.

 

[weem]

Very cool ideas, especially coming up with some ideas and letting the PC's help decide the direction before it even starts.

I love the ideas and they are doing exactly what I had hoped - provide inspiration. I have run many campaigns, all of which have been very open and guided primarily by player actions so I hope no one thinks I am looking to plan a campaign step by step from beginning to end (railroading the players) - but I do like to be prepared.

For example, for my brothers campaign involving a demon from his previous campaign, we knew that eventually, the players would need to contend with him (players were level 3 at the time) - and I said, "How cool would that be if they had to lead their armies into hell to kill him once and for all in the epic tier" - and that was one 'idea' for the ending. May or may not happen, but it gave him an idea about where things were probably leading (demon must be dealt with on his home turf).

As for knowing ahead of time that it will go from levels 1 to 30, I only mentioned numbers since I was asked about it. My current campaign I would have told you the same, that we could go from 1 - 30, but as it turns out, it may end somewhere between 18-24.

I love to write - as such, a lot gets thrown out - same with my campaigns and I don't mind it, I expect it - I do like to be prepared though. I usually look at what I think the PC's will do (mine are pretty predictable) and loosely plan around that - if it doesn't work out that way, that's fine and in many cases I wing it as we go - also cool.


So again, love the idea of involving the PC's in the decision regarding the direction of the campaign based on some ideas I might come up with - I will definitely be doing this.

And Jack, I love your campaign hooks there - very cool. I have been considering doing a 2-world thing connected by some force (possibly dreams) but I'm still not quite sure. Yours sounds really fun - the kind of game I would love to play, but I'm not sure about running.



Have a new campaign idea, or feel like sharing the plot of your current campaign? Please, post it here!



--edit-- I have given too much XP today to give away more today --/edit--

 

[Jack7]

As for knowing ahead of time that it will go from levels 1 to 30, I only mentioned numbers since I was asked about it. My current campaign I would have told you the same, that we could go from 1 - 30, but as it turns out, it may end somewhere between 18-24.

I wasn't implying this was what you were doing Weem, or even that it was a bad thing to do necessarily. I have read where people said that they wrote campaign specifically with the intent of going from a certain level to another level. I don't do it that way, things like level advancement are incidental to me.

I also agree with the idea for allowing players direct input for campaign, and even world development. It's your show to write, but they will help develop it.

By the way, I don't know if adventure ideas will also help you with campaign development, but if they do, try here: Adventure Ideas

There are also some other good adventure threads about. Unfortunately I can't remember what most are called.

Happy Hunting.

 

[fba827]

One thought before I toss out some ideas ...

Try for something that is a different "tone" / "feel" than your just-now-ending campaign. Otherwise it will ultimately feel the same with just different characters.
Plus, as a DM, you'll find that if things are setup differently, you'll be inspired to try things you didn't in the last campaign.

As for some plot ideas ..

1) Start off small, the PCs end up finding (or hired to find) some small item or whatever. After a couple levels they realize that item they retrieved is one part of several (maybe part of a set or maybe they are pieces of a bigger item, etc). And some bad people are trying to collect these different parts, so it turns in to a race to locate and retrieve the parts. In the end, the PCs will have some and some bad guys will have some. Just make sure that individually each part can do 'something' or else the PCs "win" at the start of the campaign just by getting the first piece. So each piece has to pose a potential minor threat, while all the pieces together are a potential bigger threat.
Did you ever see the first season of Jackie Chan Adventures (cartoon, from early 2000 i think). They collected talismans, each with their own power. Or, together, they were used to summon an ancient evil spirit.

2) If all the players like a certain "flavor" of PC (no, not talking chocolate or strawberry, but if they all like magic inclined, or combat style, etc) then you can start it off as a wizard school or a military unit etc (that doesn't mean just one class, just of that mind set - a cleric of magic or battle could fit in either of those two examples)

3) go for some sort of post-apocolypse. the PCs are at ground 0, day 1. No yet-established civilization area, though over time people will start to work together for mutual saftey if there are still threats out there (scavangers seeking the survivors since food is now much more scarce, etc). Maybe the PCs start to uncover what the "nuke event" was, or maybe they already know. In any case, the campaign, or at least the first part of it, will have to deal a lot with survival. And then getting supplies to help ensure the survival of a building community. and the PCs could be in charge of that new town, etc.

4) Do a small twist on a common fantasy element. What if non-divine magic is outlawed (or heavily controlled - must be registered or be part of the military, etc). Thus wizards and all would need to keep their craft a secret. Or (as an added variable extension of that) don't allow arcane style classes for PCs _but_ give each PC a bonus multiclass feat to an arcane class (if using 4e, or just give them a bonus minor wizard spell if using another system)... thus, it becomes about the party hiding what they can do or face penalties, etc.

5) If you're willing to "deal with" water (and the eventual underwater situation) have a boat. And day 1 of the campaign is the PCs getting (individually) hired on to the crew. And the adventure is in going from place to place

6) The current kingdom can not sustain itself. So the king hires out adventurers to journey out (possibly by boat? or on the other side of some great environmental hazard) to explore possible expansion territory. So the campaign is about exploration and then dealing with any cultures they find while there

7) War. PCs are in it. The who what where when why all can vary...

8) PCs are apprentices/hired hands at a noble (either minor or major)'s keep/castle/estate. But there is treachery of some kind and the mentors, and possibly the noble are missing. What are the PCs (and possibly noble) to do? Who to trust? How do you get back the missing key figures while keeping things running? etc.

9) (slightly similar to something earlier in this list, but different). The PCs know something is different about them, but don't quite know what/why. Each of them is divinely touched (possibly with a divine class multiclass - or each PC just gets one per encounter use of some channel divinity feat as if they had channel divinity) - just be sure that each of them has a different divinity power. of course, that would step on the toes of actual divine classes, so you'll want to fiddle that idea depending (such as it doesn't count towards channel divinity use for divine PCs). Anyway, they can all realize eventually that they're touched by the gods or prophets, or children of the gods who at one time mated with mortals, etc. And maybe they have to prove to themselves or others... and of course, this just begs for other NPC villains who are also similarly divinely touched and corrupted by the power (starting cults or bending communities to their will through fear, etc).


yes - lots of typos here and i know it is just one giant ramble. I'm just tired. sorry.

 

[weem]

Thanks Jack, much appreciated

And thanks fba - I really like #3. I had this idea about the PC's beginning in some frontier land where things were just being established. With this in mind (#3) it might be cool to have them far from civilization as part of some exploration team that is mysteriously wiped out while they are out - or almost wiped out - there are some survivors. Their ship could be destroyed perhaps. Maybe another ship is do in X amount of time so they make due until then... good stuff I'll have to think about that some more.



Have a new campaign idea, or feel like sharing the plot of your current campaign? Please, post it here!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Re: fba's #3.

1) You might get some good inspiration from Asimov's short story "Nightfall,"
later novelized with Robert Silverburg's assistance. The short story is widely considered one of the best sci-fi stories ever written, and it DOES involve an apocalypse...and one that could be applied to a fantasy setting. Hint: Its kind of like the setup to the movie Pitch Black.

2) Another good source for a postapocalyptic campaign: SM Stirling's stories of The Change (which, btw, is the flipside to his Island in the Stream of Time stories).

3) Technically, Terry Brooks' Shannara books are postapocalyptic fantasy. Implied in the early books, it became more strongly implied as the series progressed. However, it became explicit when he linked the Shannara storyline to his Knight of the Word series which blends into the Genesis of Shannara series.

4) As the writers above make clear, the nature of your Extinction Level Event- ELE for short- will greatly shape the world in which your players' PCs will live.

I'm designing a fantasy campaign that will take place after an ELE in which Mind Flayers from the future (see WotC's Lords of Madness) used mass drivers to deflect asteroids to pummel Örth in order to hasten the rise of the Mind Flayers to ascendancy. While successful, they have a mishap and crash land, losing their Elder Brain- in shock, they cannot remember their mission, and thus cannot take full advantage of the world they've recreated. There are elements of Asimov's Nightfall and Stirling's Change (how society fails) as well as HG Wells' Time Machine (subterranean critters nibbling on relatively clueless surface-dwellers).

 

[Aeolius]

I'm designing a fantasy campaign that will take place after an ELE in which Mind Flayers from the future (see WotC's Lords of Madness) used mass drivers to deflect asteroids to pummel Örth in order to hasten the rise of the Mind Flayers to ascendancy.

I've been working on a few ideas for a post-apocalyptic Oerth set in the years after Tharizdun was released. There isn't much left. Fortunately I'm working with the lesser moon, the handmaiden Celene.

As for the whole PCs are gods approach, I was going to explore a similar angle, albeit with animals being epic heroes, with my back-burner campaign concept "Nature of the Beast".

 

[Kestrel]

The next campaign I'm going to run is based on the Whedonverse (Buffy/Angel).

I'm going to be using 4e, with the heroic levels representing High School, Paragon levels representing College/Adult.

The campaign idea is that the High School is a representation of Sigil, with the PCs weekly battling nasties from the various gates that spontaenously appear in different, hidden areas of the school. Some adventures will deal with going through the gates to rescue other students and closing the gates.

The principal of the school is very rarely seen, her nickname is the Lady of Pain. Her team of janitors are only seen after hours, they look strange and do not talk. They clean up any strangeness left over from the PCs battles...

Anyhoo, thats the beginning that i have designed, working on "episodes" now.


PC ideas already generated: Eladrin Cheerleader (Class to be determined), Shadar Kai Emo Goth, Githyanki Drug Dealer.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The next campaign I'm going to run is based on the Whedonverse (Buffy/Angel).
<snip>

Cool!

<snip>
PC ideas already generated: Eladrin Cheerleader (Class to be determined), Shadar Kai Emo Goth, Githyanki Drug Dealer.

Eladrin Cheerleader? Paladin, duh!