Designing a new campaign: Brainstorm stage, Focus wanted

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, I've been burnt out on DMing for some time now, and even though I could come up with ideas about campaigns (some of which were posted here http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=102706&page=1&pp=40), but I couldn't progress beyond that initial idea. Now an idea is bouncing around my head, and I'd like a little help to bring it to fruition.

My Post #41 in that thread has possibly germinated. In it, I posited a campaign centered around Anthropomorphic Animals and Awakened beings. Unfortunately, as it was, it always struck me as too "Disney-esque" to be sustainable.

Then it hit me...

Set it in a fantasy realm gets hit by an ELE (Extinction Level Event)- lets say it was something natural, like a meteor impact or a supervolcano- whose affects were only slightly ameliorated by the best arcane and divine spellcasters on the planet. Most of the surface life has been wiped out, leaving the subterranean races as the dominant ones. Those that survive on the surface have been radically changed, either by magic or by environment.

I'm trying to figure out WHAT those changes would be.

Concepts I've considered:

1) The surface was so decimated by the disaster that most big cities are abandoned- life is now centered around small agrarian communities- there are no real surface empires of note anymore. Orcs and Humans (and possibly others) may be found living together in these small communities, held together out of desperation. Mainly, however, they serve as food and slaves for the subterranean empires.

(There will be no "half-" races.)

2) The dominant political forces of the day are the subterranean empires of Drow, Duregar, Illithids, Aboleth, and Beholders. Mountain Dwarves still survive as well, and are the major force for good in the world. Other quasi-subterranean species, like Minotaurs also survived.

3) Surface Elves, in an effort to save themselves, used their magic to transform themselves to become closer to nature. Now, they are all part plant- the ability to photosynthesize has helped them survive lean times. (Game terms: All elves take the Woodling template or some such.)

4) Halflings semi-subterranean, agrarian lifestyles helped them survive, but they were relatively defenseless in the chaotic aftermath of the ELE. The larger creatures overran and pillaged their settlments, regardless of political treaties and traditional alliances. As a result, they have all gone feral (as per the template), and are seldom found in tribal groups larger than 20 or so.

5) Anthropomorphic Animals, due to the magics expended in the last days of the ELE, are now a true species. This means that an Anthro Ape can marry an Anthro Dog and they can produce an Anthro Cheetah...

6) The Awakened (see the link above), like the dwarves, are a major force for good, and are trying to recover the magics of the past to improve the future. (Roughly analagous to Terry Brooks' Druids from the Shannara books.)

7) Of the races posted here on ENWorld, I'm considering some form of:
Wolfen: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=138099&page=1&pp=40
Celirians: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=134316&page=1&pp=40

8) I was considering randomization of races during PC gen (like in Chaosium's Stormbringer game), but I don't think players would go for it. How do I make the non-standard races more appealing?

So, as you can see, I have a hodgepodge of sources: HG Wells' Time Machine, Terry Brooks' Shanarra books, David Brin's The Postman, Gamma World...even the "We 3" comic books.

Can you guys help me refine this into something worth playing?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

PS: No idea as yet about what to do with the more powerful beings, like dragons, certain undead, outsiders, etc.

 

[Mitchbones]

Maybe it was the more powerful beings that destroyed the part of the world?

edit:that.

edit2: Maybe instead of undead, there is mutatants of the people hit by the "thing that caused the extinction"

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Did the Event have lingering effects, comparable to, say, a nuclear winter (from ash/dust)? If so, your agrarian society isn't going to be growing a lot of food and your photosynthesizing elves are in trouble. If you don't want this to be the case, you need to refine your event.

If you DO want the Event to be a nuclear winter-type situation, I'd look to arctic and near-arctic cultures for how civilization has to survive. Hell, since there's so few games played in cold environments, I'd recommend you go this route just for the novelty of it and to get full value out of Frostburn.

This would also allow you to have the magical enclaves to have a sort of magical hothouse thing going on, where it's warm and green and lush inside, but snowy year-round outside. The Savage Land minus mutants is damned cool.

I wouldn't go overboard with the Underdark stuff, because your players have probably seen that a few zillion times, between other games, NWN and novels. Maybe have the nearby access points controlled by hostile forces (not every cave connects to every other cave, and there are likely major access points, even if the Underdark folks have to close off some or create new ones to make it so).

The surface may not be any more friendly to Underdark races than it was before: I doubt an aboleth wants to come up into year-round freezing weather. So not all of them will have ambitions towards the surface, although they may be interested in pushing their enemies up top and taking over their territory. That puts the surface races in an "enemy of my enemy" situation -- do you help the drow and the illithid against the aboleth or do you take on the new exiles to the surface while they're weak, even though you're not in a position of strength yourself?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thanks for the quick & thoughtful responses!

To Whizbang:

Yes, there were lingering aftereffects of the ELE, but the Elves got around THAT by spreading "sentient seedpods" (think of the Minbari from Bab5) that only opened years later, much like redwoods' seeds don't germinate until AFTER a forest fire, etc. Once the worst had passed, they emerged- though even fewer in number than before the ELE.

I could also see that "hothouse" thing be the result of the partnership of the architectural skills of the surviving Mountain Dwarves- thick carved quartz or sapphire lenses over subterranean greenhouses- maintained by their now "symbiotic" partners, the Green Elves.

The agrarians would probably have to get through "The Dark Times" by relying upon divine magics like Create Food and Water or effects that produced sunlight, etc. Thus Druids & nature oriented clerics would have considerable power... However, such spells are limited, so there would be many who died in the ELE's aftereffects. Considering the limited resources, some (many) of those deaths would be the direct result of raids.

Currently, the ash & debris have settled, so life & civilization is beginning to reassert itself...albeit slowly.

As for the Underdark races, I don't see them exerting much power over the surface (but for the occasional slave/food raid)...what I meant was that those are the only POLITICAL powers over the organizational size of a small town. Thus, only Underdark races would have standing armies, etc.

Which, of course, also forces the surface survivors to work more closely together, as you predicted... I hadn't considered those townships (or perhaps bands of brigands) actually going merc for the Drow or Illithids, though. That DOES make sense- not only the good and pure would survive- the wicked surely would as well...and they WOULD be the best raiders/enslavers for the Underdark Empires. NICE!

To Mitchbones: I think any big organized destruction would be more along the lines of a nuclear war scenario...anything the bad guys did, the good guys would strive to conteract. However, I can see them as opportunists- especially the evil and neutral ones. Perhaps the Archons rescued a few shining beacons of virtue to the outer planes...perhaps the demons and devils had fun on the surface by touching off skirmishes in the aftermath...perhaps the Fire & Earth elementals just had a BIIIIIG party as earthquakes and firestorms raged, and the Water elementals reveled in the tsunamis...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh yeah- another consideration is that the LAs on this are going to be nutty!

Anthros are typically +2-+5LA, the Woodling template is +2 or so...

How do I BALANCE this?

Option 1) I had considered "ignoring" LA, in the sense of running the campaign sort of like RIFTS: Your PC starts off with 1 class level, regardless of race...but a LA0 PC would get his next class level at the regular XP point, the +1LA one level later, and so forth until all PCs are "balanced."

Option 2) Design a whole bunch of monster levels for the +LA races.

Option 3) Start the campaign at the ECL of the PC with the highest ECL.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Some random thoughts/revisions...

I know I originally said I wouldn't use half- races, but it occurred to me that if the humans and orcs are living in close quarters for an extended period of time, Half-Orcs could become the dominant, perhaps ONLY, surface species, particularly if the culture actively engages in culling of "undesirables" like the Spartans did.

Outside of the communes, pure Humans & Orcs could be reduced to barely sentient cattle, a' la Planet of the Apes or HG Wells' Time Machine.

Mitchbones...I gave your idea some more thought. What do you (and others, of course) think of:

1) The Archons & evil outsiders took advantage of the situation by creating more Aasimars & Tieflings to rule the survivors? Some of these guys could become quite powerful in the new era, especially if they actually have otherplanar backers. They (or more powerful, full-blooded outsiders) could even fill the part of the role of the Dragon Kings of Athas...

2) The evil elementals (and perhaps neutrals as well), while they did not actually CAUSE the ELE, DID actively subvert efforts to avert the disaster, reasoning that a large enough disaster would give them a "playground" in the PMP...as well as eliminating a lot of the beings who cause them so much trouble.

 

[seskis281]

I designed and played a mini-world called Zarthos that was similar - it was a war that was the ELE.

The best advice is to figure out how to handle discovered artifacts/technology from the pre-disaster era - this is one of the things that can add a lot of flavor but needs attention to not suddenly let a PC get something that may be overpowering in the current world.

It is a good idea I think, and offers a new twist on medievalism/dark age societies that are the result of devolution rather than evolution.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Once I decide on the particular ELE- currently leaning towards meteoric impact or impacts- I'll be better able to figure out precisely how much technology & knowledge is lost. Clearly, spellbooks, scrolls, and other "soft" things are going to be extremely scarce.

EDIT: this alone has deep implications. Sorcerers and other "intuitive" arcane casters have a clear advantage...where are Wizards going to find their spells? Perhaps they should be pure researchers, letting each player research their own unique versions of spells, possibly with some kind of Spellcraft mechanic. For instance, instead of taking metamagic feats, Wizards would research and design "metamagical" versions of the spells. So, one mage may research and design Magic Missile as it is adding it to his book as a 1st level spell, while another might research it as an Empowered spell, and would know it as a 3rd level spell- ONLY. They could then free up feats for other purposes.

More work? Yep...but it could be worth it.

If the surface world was basically "bombed back to the stone age," someone with a metal sword could be quite powerful.

Oh and yes- there will be detrimental effects on the subterraneans as well- that big network of caverns and tunnels that we call the Underdark would basically collapse, reducing those dark empires to city-states re-excavating & rebuilding themselves...

 

[luke_twigger]

A useful book to consider would be When the Sky Falls from Malhavoc Press.

ENWorld Store http://shop.enworld.org/index.php?productsid=1560&source=Search for sky
ENWord Reviews http://www.enworld.org/reviews.php?do=product&productid=118579
Homepage http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_Sky

Sorry not to have anything more constructive to add.