Defend the town, for the entire campaign

[Filcher]

I played in a game like this once. We inherited a ruined keep and tried to establish a town around it. Brought in henchmen, settlers, made pacts with the locals, and explored the surroundings.

We TPK'd beneath a mountain when we collapsed it to kill a vampire lord, but thats the way things go when you wear the crown.

Edit: We left town all the time to explore ruins/ vanquish kobolds, etc., and it gave the DM time to scramble stuff up while we were gone.

 

[Jhaelen]

In my campaign the initial focus was on defending the villages and towns of a relatively small frontier area bordered by large natural obstacles. This can be fun for a long time, if the threats are sufficiently varied.

But I don't think you can extend this forever. Once you enter the Paragon tier the focus should change since natural threats are (probably) no longer meaningful.

Consequently, I went on to introduce threats from the Underdark (and thus travels into that region) and laid the the groundwork for some extra-planar adventuring.

 

[Rel]

I think the basic idea is sound but it would be difficult to keep it fresh if the PC's are required to stay completely within the confines of the town. As the saying goes, "Sometimes the best defense is a good offense." Making forrays out to "take the battle to the enemy" once in a while or attempting to retrieve some rumored artifact that will help defend the town would be good diversions from the constant defend the town theme.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This is a solid campaign idea, and there are plenty of ways to keep it fresh, as some of the other posters have pointed out.

And there are a number of pieces of serial fantasy out there that follow that basic idea...well, at least the idea of fantasy adventuring within the confines of a smallish geographical area.

Much of Terry Pratchett's Diskworld fiction occurs within the confines of Ankh Morpork. Many of Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories take place in Lankhmar. Simon Green's Hawk & Fisher books are likewise. Then, of course, there are the wonderful Thieves' World stories.

I wouldn't do it in a small town, however...I think that a town big enough to have a decent wall is what you need.

The town doesn't need to be under "constant siege" or threat of overrun as long as there are believable threats from within and without. A passing army could lay siege to the town. A criminal organization could get in a turf war with another one. In a similar vein, the same storyline could be supported by a struggle between the militaristic branches of certain faiths, or even a true political upheaval, like a coup attempt.

Perhaps some jackass from goodness knows where was on a mission from higher ups, screwed up some silly incantation that would "disable the alarms" and stirred up some kind of trouble that followed him back to the town...

Perhaps the city is on the migratory path of Otyughs & Flumphs.

The PCs in all of this could be locals. They could be in the Watch. They could be mercs. They could be wanderers who just got caught up in some kind of mess.

Options obviously abound.

 

[Galloglaich]

You should definitely rent the Seven Samurai and also, The Magnificent Seven which is a copy of it set in the Wild West. Both great films, especially the former. Set in a small village, peasants hire the experts to defend their town, but it could give you lots of ideas for how to do such a campaign.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNqQXC8Tv8U]YouTube - Criterion Trailer 2: Seven Samurai[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WO0bBOyh58&feature=related]YouTube - The Magnificent Seven - Boot Hill Scene (1960)[/ame]

I think it's a great idea actually, though maybe not for an entire campaign, it would certainly be worth several sessions.

G.

 

[Cardboard Carnage]

I am working on an idea like this for a campaign I am putting together right now for a group of players I've played with for years (Wil, if you are reading this message, please stop now!!!)

I based my idea on the TV Show LOST. In the show LOST, There is essentially a group of people trapped on the island, but you constantly find new things to explore, new people come and go, entire groups also live there, etc. You eventually discover things like transporters, time travel, secret bases, etc.

My campaign doesn't take place on an island, it is a small village in the middle of nowhere, about 100 people living there. The party starts at first level and literally wanders into the village during a fierce and deadly thunderstorm, they were out looking for adventure and adventure they have found...

The basic idea is there is nothing specifically special about the village, but on the day after the storm, the party awakens in the small Inn to realize the village is under attack by some thugs. The party defends the peaceful farmers and village folks and become somewhat of local celebrities. They will eventually leave the village, thinking that is 'it', but after several days march north (or whatever direction they go in) they find out they are back in the village again.

No matter which direction they go, they end up back in the small village after only a few days travel. So, kind of like LOST, they are stuck in this one place and have to find a way out. Since there is travel in each direction, the 'closed world' they are stuck in will be large enough to add dungeons, small keeps, different groups of bad guys, ancient grave yards, a wizards tower, etc.

It will be determined that the village is not in the 'center' of the closed word, in fact there is going to be a small keep with a wizards tower that will be determined is the exact center. The keep is run down and falling apart and has bad guys and monsters in it, the Wizards tower is not accessible, protected by some sort of magic.

I want the campaign to have a lot of mystery and a lot of secret stuff going on, and every answer the PC's get will just open up more questions and mysteries...

The village will be the main 'base camp' of the PC's, since they are heroes in the village, they will have free room and food and discounts on what little supplies, weapons and armour the people there can offer. The town will be attacked from time to time and the party will protect it, but that will not be the focus of the campaign (although in the first session it will seem as though the objective was to simply defend the town from the attackers, etc.).

I've got more to do to finish the idea, but it is coming along pretty well. I've played a few good 4e games, but haven't had a nice and steady campaign since 3.5 a few years back.

D.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sounds a little "Ravenloft-y" to me.

 

[Scribble]

Jericho is a show I think that can give examples of this idea.

In that show, the basic idea is defend the town (and citizens) from things like: further destruction, disease, starvation, outlaws, internal strife...

Sometimes they ventured out, but most of the stuff that happened was in the town. When they did venture out they didn't go very far, and it was directly related to some way they were attempting to protect the town. Their plan was always to only leave for a short period of time, and get back as quickly as possible.

(ie we need to get to the rival town and back with info about the upcomming attack.)

Leaving town was either too dangerous, too long of a trek, or the main characters were just needed too much in the town to go far. (Or a combination of all of the above.)

Anyone that DID leave town for an extended period was usually an "NPC" and 9 times out of 10 was destined to return in the distant future with some sort of problem the main characters had to deal with to defend the town.

Even the over-arching plot didn't have them leave the town until the very very end.

Even the "higher leve;" characters who knew more about the bigger picture couldn't (or chose not to) leave because the town offered them a better strategic position to be in while planning how to fix things.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Another good piece of fiction to mine for ideas is SM Stirling's novels of The Change series (Dies the Fire, etc.), which is the flipside to his Island in the Stream of Time series (also worthy of pillaging).

 

[Wootz]

I suppose it could work, but to someone like me that would get pretty boring, IMO. Adventuring to me is exploring new places, finding new vistas and locales, and the fantasy setting makes for some really interesting geography <_<