AmandaBarbarian
Explorer
First time poster short term lurker.
I don't think of myself as new to D&D but I am sure most of you will. I have twice tried to DM once a Adventure League adventure and once a homebrew and both went different types of bad.
I have been playing on and off for a little over 10 years and most of that time was table top D&D. I do have a few other systems I tried and I count Pathfinder 1 as D&D for that.
So one of my friends who calls himself a forever DM has asked someone to take over Thursday night game after this campaign ends so he can play. None of the experienced DMs are interested. HOWEVER, I have a concept and I want to try again. However the 2 times I ran it was like a single adventure over a couple of nights never a campaign.
I have ideas I have stolen from a life time of comics, tv shows, movies, and novel reading. I however have no map, no art, no ability to draw either unless I am making a way worst order of the stick. The game itself is right now online to account for being far away and having family things. So I do have some leeway with stuff.
I need to make a pitch, and I gave it to one friend and she said it sounded great, however it was mostly me stream of through talking and going a little manic. Now I need to be more organized. I tried to ask on redit and got some okay suggestions but also a bunch of pushback, I am hopeing that someone here or some of you may be more help. I have been reading up here for some time.
No one in the group is interested in playtesting the new 1D&D, I have looked at it and like some of it even though I have not played it. So we can assume we are using the 2014 PHB and I as DM get to pick if I add any other books. The DMs I have been under have allowed most WotC stuff and some 3pp stuff and even made up their own but that feels a bit overwhelming right now.
I have only really played 5e and PF 1e for D&D but I also played some superhero RPG from Palladium that I can't remember the name of and the V20 M20 W20 and WW20 games enough to have a grasp of those rules and settings, and I have tried savageworld and Shadow run and rifts but only with very limited success. I read some stuff on older editions of D&D but never played them, so that is my gaming experience.
SO here is my crazy pitch… and this is one fantasy world not spelljammer: I hope you have heard of Stargate. If not here is the elevator rant, a group of aliens that pretend to be gods of different pantheons create soldiers and a really dysfunctional feudal emprire… I assume everyone knows what starwars is, if not the important part is the sith, a dark psychic cult of psi warriors that wants to rule the universe. Less likely to have seen/heard is Thunder cats, a fantasy setting that is really post apocalypse super high tech with a series magic/tech stones that are totally not infinity stones that grant massive power when put in weapons. Really really less likely to know is Necroscope, important part like SW is the villains a empire of flesh crafting alien mushroom creatures that act like vampires in every way that can create thralls of power. Now some comics stuff Dr fate is a person possessed with a god of order as a way to act as an avatar. The 'host' is powerful as is but with the helm they are pretty close to the god. Gem world is kind of like the anti dr fate, it is a world made by gods of chaos to have fey like magic with gem based magic. Ghost riders are angels and demons or maybe both bound together with human hosts to do things on the prime plane. Spawn is an entire army of lesser spawns that are beings that made by making infernal deals for there souls but are powered by necromantic symbiot armors…
Okay so there are 3 or more pantheons of gods, and they are at war. However they can not enter each other's domains, and they FEAR entering the natural ground of prime material or fey/shadow/elemental planes. So they make Avatars that do. This is where the stargate stuff comes in… instead of aliens pretending to be gods they are real gods, however like the ghoal system lords these guys are at war with each other for influence but with avatars on PM and the Jafa are paladins. They rule about 2/3 of the world. There are a handful of freehold that are 'protected settlements' that a second pantheon says they will protect but it is really a bluff cause that pantheon is at war with a demon host (this is like the asgaurd) There is then a third pantheon of neutral fey gods (like knox) that just want to be spiritual advisors and avoid the war… but they may be more powerful than the others. The Demon host that the second pantheon is at war with has two ways to corrupt people on the prime (see warlocks) that allow them to create spawn like creatures to fight that war. Once upon a time there was a greater set of gods, a pantheon now long since gone (ancients and Ori) that had control of everything… the magic items they made are sought by everyone cause they are the most powerful artifacts. However some of them have the essence of the god in them (helm of nabu like). They had two types lords of order and lords of chaos. The lords of order stayed on prime realm and the lords of chaos went to the fey wild where they made a gem world. However there is also ANOTHER realm… the shadowfel, and it is ruled by mushroom like parasites that are basically flesh crafting vampires, and they have there own empire there in the shadows.
I have this idea of a group of adventurers that grew up under the thumb of the 1st evil pantheon… but remember each lord, each god has there own army and area so the PCs might have been at war with each other at some point… that have heard stories of 'protected freeholds' but have not been to one yet, and will stumble on an ancient temple to long forgotten lords of order. I also want a secret conspiracy to overthrow the gods, but it to be an EVIL sith like psychic consepracy but I don't know how to work that in.
As you can tell this is all over the place. I may be overdoing things for a first time. I may need to think through more. I need to figure out what I am allowing and I need to actually craft the world and the adventure and then I can pitch it maybe better. Any help or insight from other DMs would be appreciate (I know you are here Tommy, so tell people if you post that you might be a player)
my first idea is I like the Strixhaven rules where you make friends with NPCs to get bonuses, and you can study lore books to get bonuses, but not in a school setting
my second idea is I like the new setting Dragon Lance feats that allow for fighting style type things
my third idea is I like the Kender but I want a kender that is less chaotic and easier on party cohesion
my first fear is I have no idea how druid will work with all this
my second fear is I don't have 'normal' low level threats here like Orcs and Kobolds
my third fear is half the name of the game is dragons, and we often have dragon slaying as at least an option, but my ideas don't use dragons
my fourth fear is that I don't know what to allow people to play
MY BIGGEST FEAR, I may not be cut out for this.
I don't think of myself as new to D&D but I am sure most of you will. I have twice tried to DM once a Adventure League adventure and once a homebrew and both went different types of bad.
I have been playing on and off for a little over 10 years and most of that time was table top D&D. I do have a few other systems I tried and I count Pathfinder 1 as D&D for that.
So one of my friends who calls himself a forever DM has asked someone to take over Thursday night game after this campaign ends so he can play. None of the experienced DMs are interested. HOWEVER, I have a concept and I want to try again. However the 2 times I ran it was like a single adventure over a couple of nights never a campaign.
I have ideas I have stolen from a life time of comics, tv shows, movies, and novel reading. I however have no map, no art, no ability to draw either unless I am making a way worst order of the stick. The game itself is right now online to account for being far away and having family things. So I do have some leeway with stuff.
I need to make a pitch, and I gave it to one friend and she said it sounded great, however it was mostly me stream of through talking and going a little manic. Now I need to be more organized. I tried to ask on redit and got some okay suggestions but also a bunch of pushback, I am hopeing that someone here or some of you may be more help. I have been reading up here for some time.
No one in the group is interested in playtesting the new 1D&D, I have looked at it and like some of it even though I have not played it. So we can assume we are using the 2014 PHB and I as DM get to pick if I add any other books. The DMs I have been under have allowed most WotC stuff and some 3pp stuff and even made up their own but that feels a bit overwhelming right now.
I have only really played 5e and PF 1e for D&D but I also played some superhero RPG from Palladium that I can't remember the name of and the V20 M20 W20 and WW20 games enough to have a grasp of those rules and settings, and I have tried savageworld and Shadow run and rifts but only with very limited success. I read some stuff on older editions of D&D but never played them, so that is my gaming experience.
SO here is my crazy pitch… and this is one fantasy world not spelljammer: I hope you have heard of Stargate. If not here is the elevator rant, a group of aliens that pretend to be gods of different pantheons create soldiers and a really dysfunctional feudal emprire… I assume everyone knows what starwars is, if not the important part is the sith, a dark psychic cult of psi warriors that wants to rule the universe. Less likely to have seen/heard is Thunder cats, a fantasy setting that is really post apocalypse super high tech with a series magic/tech stones that are totally not infinity stones that grant massive power when put in weapons. Really really less likely to know is Necroscope, important part like SW is the villains a empire of flesh crafting alien mushroom creatures that act like vampires in every way that can create thralls of power. Now some comics stuff Dr fate is a person possessed with a god of order as a way to act as an avatar. The 'host' is powerful as is but with the helm they are pretty close to the god. Gem world is kind of like the anti dr fate, it is a world made by gods of chaos to have fey like magic with gem based magic. Ghost riders are angels and demons or maybe both bound together with human hosts to do things on the prime plane. Spawn is an entire army of lesser spawns that are beings that made by making infernal deals for there souls but are powered by necromantic symbiot armors…
Okay so there are 3 or more pantheons of gods, and they are at war. However they can not enter each other's domains, and they FEAR entering the natural ground of prime material or fey/shadow/elemental planes. So they make Avatars that do. This is where the stargate stuff comes in… instead of aliens pretending to be gods they are real gods, however like the ghoal system lords these guys are at war with each other for influence but with avatars on PM and the Jafa are paladins. They rule about 2/3 of the world. There are a handful of freehold that are 'protected settlements' that a second pantheon says they will protect but it is really a bluff cause that pantheon is at war with a demon host (this is like the asgaurd) There is then a third pantheon of neutral fey gods (like knox) that just want to be spiritual advisors and avoid the war… but they may be more powerful than the others. The Demon host that the second pantheon is at war with has two ways to corrupt people on the prime (see warlocks) that allow them to create spawn like creatures to fight that war. Once upon a time there was a greater set of gods, a pantheon now long since gone (ancients and Ori) that had control of everything… the magic items they made are sought by everyone cause they are the most powerful artifacts. However some of them have the essence of the god in them (helm of nabu like). They had two types lords of order and lords of chaos. The lords of order stayed on prime realm and the lords of chaos went to the fey wild where they made a gem world. However there is also ANOTHER realm… the shadowfel, and it is ruled by mushroom like parasites that are basically flesh crafting vampires, and they have there own empire there in the shadows.
I have this idea of a group of adventurers that grew up under the thumb of the 1st evil pantheon… but remember each lord, each god has there own army and area so the PCs might have been at war with each other at some point… that have heard stories of 'protected freeholds' but have not been to one yet, and will stumble on an ancient temple to long forgotten lords of order. I also want a secret conspiracy to overthrow the gods, but it to be an EVIL sith like psychic consepracy but I don't know how to work that in.
As you can tell this is all over the place. I may be overdoing things for a first time. I may need to think through more. I need to figure out what I am allowing and I need to actually craft the world and the adventure and then I can pitch it maybe better. Any help or insight from other DMs would be appreciate (I know you are here Tommy, so tell people if you post that you might be a player)
my first idea is I like the Strixhaven rules where you make friends with NPCs to get bonuses, and you can study lore books to get bonuses, but not in a school setting
my second idea is I like the new setting Dragon Lance feats that allow for fighting style type things
my third idea is I like the Kender but I want a kender that is less chaotic and easier on party cohesion
my first fear is I have no idea how druid will work with all this
my second fear is I don't have 'normal' low level threats here like Orcs and Kobolds
my third fear is half the name of the game is dragons, and we often have dragon slaying as at least an option, but my ideas don't use dragons
my fourth fear is that I don't know what to allow people to play
MY BIGGEST FEAR, I may not be cut out for this.
