DM requesting advice- how do I implement this idea?

[skinnydwarf]

Hey all,

Warning: If you are in Teddy's Rutgers D&D group, you're in big trouble if you continue to read this message.

So here's the deal. I have what I think is a really cool idea, I'm just unsure how to implement it. Before I get to my question, let me give you a real quick run down on my world.

My world is a "traditional" D&D fantasy world. It's about the size of Greenland, and mountains split it in half. The monster lands are in the north, the good lands in the south. The main pass through the mountains is guarded by BloodKeep (i.e., Keep on The Borderlands). Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Gnomes are split into various groups. There are also other races living here- centaurs, cat people (a la Daggerfall/Morrowind) and lizard people. So that's a quick run down.

Politics: The humans are split into two kingdoms, originally two alliances of city states. The north is a militaristic feudal state, the south a republic with a strong economy. The dwarves are split into two groups- one which thinks they should guard the good lands (as the dwarven mountains split the island) and the other which wants to dig deep and do dwarf things. The elves are split into High and Wood factions. The High Elves live on one island far to the south. Gnomes have no single nation, they just have lots of small communities with different cultures.

So here's my idea. A comet/asteroid will hit the island (probably in the south) and decimate most of the good lands. The monster lands will be protected by the mountains. Immediatly afterwards, it's going to be a game of survival. Then hopefully the players can set up some sort of community (among several). Then the monsters will start invading the good lands (as the Keep will fall). Why are the monsters invading? Because the comet/asteroid hit awakened an ancient red dragon who is cranky and laying waste to the monster lands. The monsters will be unorganized for a time, but might get organized later. Perhaps the players will have to stop this.

My question to you is: How do I go about implementing this? I'm unsure how this would be played out. Any suggestions on how various races would react, rules for survival (food will become very important... especially as the food chain starts breaking down due to dust).

Thanks for any advice you might have.

-TM the DM

 

[der_kluge]

I would imagine that if an asteroid struck the southern part, and tore asunder the good side of the land, the monsters might not need any reason to attack it, other than the opportunity has presented itself.

You could even tie something more mystical and mysterious to the asteroid, other than it just being a mundane event. Like, a side-plot where sages investigate the cause of the asteroid, and link it back to an ancient enemy that has recently awoken on the monstrous side (good for an epic-level quest, if your game lasts that long).

 

[Sagan Darkside]

This may be of eventual help:

http://www.montecook.com/mpress_Sky.html

 

[Lord Pendragon]

You may need to have the asteroid disrupt magic in some way, causing some spells not to work. In a traditional D&D world, the low-level cleric spell Create Food and Water would mess up the survival aspect from the start.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

You may need to have the asteroid disrupt magic in some way, causing some spells not to work. In a traditional D&D world, the low-level cleric spell Create Food and Water would mess up the survival aspect from the start.

I had a campeign where an asteroid hit the world - it originated in hell and had ripped through the celestial planes until it hit the material.

It caused all divine magic to be twisted- blood needed to be shed to cast spells. (In that campeign, souls were the currency of the heavens, and blood was the physical incarnation of it.)

Good clerics would do damage to themselves. Evil clerics would do it to others.

I had a system worked out, but lost it all to a puter virus.

One final twist- the meteor introduced gun powder to the world. Divine magic could not heal any wounds caused by it.

SD

 

[skinnydwarf]

Thanks for all the good ideas.

I was thinking about "create food and water," and I was stumped on how to get around that. My first thought was "they don't have a cleric anyway," but disrupting magic would make it a more universal problem. Good idea.

That Malhavoc press book looks perfect for me. Perhaps I can put off destroying the world until mid-april, so I can make use of it...

Well, it's off to dreamland. Night all.

 

[Drawmack]

I would just have the commet take out the keep. Decimated humanoids fighting monster is almost as effective as rubber bands against aeroplanes.

Maybe right around dinner time one night. A flamming mass falls from the sky, remminicent of the star fall that created the great oceans. However this is just a single flaming sphere. As it hits the ground you hear an explosion and the earth trembles causing weaker buildings to fall, and killing many.

As the PCs go to investigate they start running into monsters.