My ideas for a new campaign(suggestions needed, My players STAY OUT)

[blackshirt5]

OK, I'm planning this out in my head and I wanted to get it down in writing while it's still fresh. Any suggestions that anybody has would be very helpful. Please note, the campaign is meant to be sort of Final Fantasy-esque. I'm gonna run it with a modified version of D20 Modern with a bit of Four Color to Fantasy thrown in.

The setting is a combination of time periods. The cities have a gaslight/rennaissance feel to them, while outside, the world is savage and wild; young gods live in the forest(like Princess Mononoke), and demons are still feared. Technology is fairly advanced, but the people still hold close to the old weaponry(swords and the like); the players are welcome to use guns though if they want.

Basically, the players get dropped into this world, where these cities are under attack more and more by the hordes of barbarians and monsters; already, several cities have fallen, and it is only a matter of time before the PCs home cities fall too. The sages have all meditated on the matter, and have reached the conclusion that the Dark Spirits, creatures that were locked away in spirit form, have broken free from the Crystal Prison that the Great Heroes imprisoned them in below the earth eons ago(it's going to be part of the world's collective mythology that is told to the PCs by the sages, in true Final Fantasy fashion). Though the Dark Spirits no longer have bodies of their own(or at least that's what the sages think), just like the Spirits that are known within the world, Dark Spirits can take possession of a mortal and use their body, now greatly enhanced by the Spirit's presence.

So, for one reason or another(I'll work them out with each individual player), the PCs all set out to end this threat. Along the way, they'll be able to pick up Advanced Classes like Lancer, Duelist(there might be more than a few types of Duelists, actually, from the different cities), White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, etc. I'm gonna work out a Magic Point system for them to use(and everyone's gonna get magic points, the classes also get class abilities). They'll meet a wide and ever changing cast of characters(kinda like FF2, which I LOVED), travel the world(and maybe more worlds than just this one), deal with epic villains, and eventually have the fate of the worlds, plus a very hard choice, on their hands(see also: One of them has to give up his life by his own choice).

I was going to have the plotline eventually unfold so that the cause of all this trouble was another adventuring party; their mage accidentally opened up the Crystal Prison after they found it(they were searching for it to prove the old legends were true); the most powerful Dark Spirits are possessing them, and they must fight them before the end; of course, the eventual battle with a giant, supercharged Dark Spirit at the end is all but inevitable.

So, what do you think? What does it need, should I just kick myself in the head right now and forget about it?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, that they can also take levels in the Hero class from FCtF, that simulates them getting a Spirit companion; they can invite the Spirit into their body to increase their powers far beyond mortal men(this is actually normal in the setting; they'll meet a lot of others with Spirit Companions); the Spirit's will have personalities and relationships, sometimes good, sometimes adversarial(another thing that will be touched on with the Dark Spirits vs. regular is that the Dark Spirits, some of them are not necessarily evil; they jsut don't want to be a slave to a mortal's whim, so they take the body by force).

 

[blackshirt5]

Also, I'm going to include Gem Magic, a la R.A. Salvatore's "Demon Wars" novels.

 

[blackshirt5]

Just a quick BUMP to the top before I go to work; nobody is interested in this, or is it just so perfect that no feedback is needed?

 

[kuroshidaku]

Probably more depend on what your players think. Seems alright at a glance. I'll leave it to more experienced hands to critique it

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

I read this and think that it would be a great game for Square to make.... since you're going for that FF sorta feel, then I'd say you're on the right track.

Rules-wise I don't know what exactly you'll want to do, but storyline wise... You know I really wish I could come up with things half this creative! I wouldn't change a thing, personally.

 

[Talath]

Without even looking at your post blackshirt, your problem is lack of dark elves. It needs more dark elves

 

[kenjib]

All those house rules sound like a lot of work. I know if it was me I'd probably burn out before I finished them. How about a different game system that better fits your idea out of the box. Maybe BESM or Exalted?

You should do it though. It sounds fun. Good luck!

 

[Methinkus]

It sounds like alot of the work you will be doing on this setting/campaign is re-vamping the magic system. Adding new classes, a magic point system, gem magic and so on . . . and in my experiance when the DM puts that much effort into "his" magic system it means that the campaign is going to get magic heavy, and more often than not very very unbalanced.

I know balance isnt everything, in fact its not very important at all next to telling a good story, but i Like it just the same.

If you want the game to be magic heavy, then go foreward my amigo. If not, then consider asking yourself why you want so many new and unique magic systems in your game, and if you need them, AND if it is something your players will enjoy and apreciate.

P.S. I love the FF series and think your plot idea and most of the setting info is unique and exciting. I like the idea of experimenting with more advanced tech while maintaining a fantasy feel, ala FF itself

 

[blackshirt5]

Talath-It's funny that you should mention that; when they go underground they're gonna meet the dark elves; I'm making them suitably hard, too.

kenjib-Well, I think that my favorite part of coming up with a new campaign idea is bending the system to my will and creating new rules for it; plus, as I'm using some of the stuff converted over by a few guys on the Wizards.com boards, it's not nearly as much work as you'd think. As for a different game system, the reason I'm doing so much conversion work is that I'm cheap and lazy, and don't want to pick up another book(although I do have most of the Exalted stuff).

Methinkus-Well, it's obviously going to be magic heavy; they're pretty much gonna have to be all using magic in some form before the end of the game(which, ideally, will involve them fighting the fallen heroes and the Dark Dragon Spirit, culminating in...well, I'm not to sure yet); but yeah, magic is very prevalent.

Trevalon-Thanks; that was EXACTLY what I was going for.

 

[blackshirt5]

An update; I've got a bunch of the stuff worked out already in my head, and I wanted to run a fresh idea by you guys, inspired by Paka's Eternal Dungeon thread.

The Dark Elves did not always live underground. Once, they were members of the high elves of the surface, and they lived in the area that is now the Jand Wastelands. They developed a magical item that they believed would revolutionize travel among the elves; a living bit of stone that could slowly but surely grow into fully formed tunnels, passageways, and halls. Unfortunately, they decided to implement it without telling anyone.

Back in those days, the Jand Wasteland was known as Jandalar Forest; that began to change when the Tunneler was used; with the application of Elven High Magic, it began it's growth at an accelerated rate and soon had consumed the entire forest; the elves fled, including the 7 Elven Houses that were responsible for The Tunneler's creation. When the elders of the other houses discovered that the 7 had unwittingly brought about the destruction of Jandalar, they were driven from the Unsel Woods into the Jand Wastelands to die.

Death, however, was not in the cards for the newly christened Dark Elves. They discovered that the Tunneler had created a deep cavern for those who had gotten caught up and left behind in the evacuation of Jandalar, and was more than happy to welcome the 7 exiled houses, it's creators, into their new home within the dungeon complex. The Dark Elves applied their knowledge of spirits to their creation and, by binding Dark Spirits to the Tunneler, were able to make it spawn monsters(albeit temporarily), create traps as it expanded, and incorporate a cruel vision.

Now, millenia later, the overworld fights against the Tunneler, renamed Barbacan, and it's Dark Elf inhabitants. Teams of warriors make periodic forays into the dungeon halls in hopes of cutting off sections from the main body to wither and die; it is an uphill battle but one that is sometimes won. And always do the elves wait for their hameful secret to be found out, that it is their fault that the Tunneler slowly but surely infests the ground beneath their feet with it's halls, bringing the Dark Elves closer to the surface.

The only area that the Tunneler has ever shied away from was a region known as the Cliffs of Aida, named after the priestess who helped to seal away the Dark Spirits; legends stated that this area is where the fabled Crystal Prison was buried under, and the Tunneler, being inhabited by Dark Spirits itself, would have a primal fear of the Crystal Prison. As of the past 15 years, however, it has been noticed that the dungeon halls do seem to creep closer to the Cliffs of Aida every year; perhaps a sign of the Crystal Prison's opening?