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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 3562164" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>Thank you, Hussar, for demonstrating admirably the adventure-first design.</p><p></p><p>One way that I tweak it is by estimating the number of sessions I want to play that campaign for (as one who likes to switch campaigns every 6 months or so). So if I know now, in June, that I can basically play until September without a major interruption, I know I've got 4 months, with about 3 games/month, I have 12 game sessions. Each game session runs about 4 hours, and in that time, I have about 4 encounters.</p><p></p><p>So I have a total of about 48 encounters in this campaign. So my PCs will gain about 3 levels over the course of the game. This gives me a starting level: I'll start them at level 4, so that by the time the campaign ends they will have had a chance to qualify for most PrC's and gain some standing in the world.</p><p></p><p>If they're already level 4, I know they're already heroes above the average level of many of the NPCs in the world, so I'm not going to start them off as farmers or whatever. They've already killed a few goblins and the like, so people already know their name, can seek them out, and have a reason for paying them to do dangerous things.</p><p></p><p>If my theme is "dragons," I pick 4-5 dragon-style monsters or NPCs of CR 3-5 and use them for the body of my first adventure. The connections between them will reflect the foundation on where I build my campaign. For instance, let's say I choose a few different types of wyrmling dragons, and maybe a Dragon Shaman NPC. This Dragon Shaman NPC has kidnapped several types of wyrmlings and is using them to sacrifice to his own totem dragon, a vile Red Dragon named Balzidir. The PC's are contacted by the contingent of Good Dragons (perhaps a Bronze Dragon posing as a human) to end him and rescue the wyrmlings. The reason they can't intervene themselves is due to ages-old Dragon Pacts which lay out territories for the different types to hunt in that cannot be violated. If the good dragons were to go get their youths back themselves, they would start an all-out Dragonswar that may lay to waste the world.</p><p></p><p>And not only do I have my first adventure, I have a good arc for the next 11: the PCs are caught between warring dragon factions and must somehow prevent the outbreak of all-out war. They'll never face Balzidir himself, but the great wyrm is old and senile...they may face one of his young spawn, the Young-aged twins Sarabel and Vriktal, who hunger for a great war. </p><p></p><p>So the PC's start in the coastal city of Vargis, a city under the protection of the Bronze Dragons, at the base of the volcanic mountain kingdom that is ruled by Red Dragons, a range that smokes and smolders with a barely-repressed explosion...here, where gnomes run the city and where animals are given rights as humans, the PCs have been contacted by a mysterious green-cloaked figure, with an urgent message...</p><p></p><p>While they're making characters, I'll jump into the MM (or other sources) and pull out a few encounters...half-dragon orcs in the Simmering Mountains who won't let them pass a bridge, a stray wyrmling silver dragon who doesn't understand the PC's are here to help it, a five-headed pyrohydra with a passion for fine art, and a lone Winter Wolf warrior who is on a personal vendetta mission against Sarabel. </p><p></p><p>Now, let's play!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 3562164, member: 2067"] Thank you, Hussar, for demonstrating admirably the adventure-first design. One way that I tweak it is by estimating the number of sessions I want to play that campaign for (as one who likes to switch campaigns every 6 months or so). So if I know now, in June, that I can basically play until September without a major interruption, I know I've got 4 months, with about 3 games/month, I have 12 game sessions. Each game session runs about 4 hours, and in that time, I have about 4 encounters. So I have a total of about 48 encounters in this campaign. So my PCs will gain about 3 levels over the course of the game. This gives me a starting level: I'll start them at level 4, so that by the time the campaign ends they will have had a chance to qualify for most PrC's and gain some standing in the world. If they're already level 4, I know they're already heroes above the average level of many of the NPCs in the world, so I'm not going to start them off as farmers or whatever. They've already killed a few goblins and the like, so people already know their name, can seek them out, and have a reason for paying them to do dangerous things. If my theme is "dragons," I pick 4-5 dragon-style monsters or NPCs of CR 3-5 and use them for the body of my first adventure. The connections between them will reflect the foundation on where I build my campaign. For instance, let's say I choose a few different types of wyrmling dragons, and maybe a Dragon Shaman NPC. This Dragon Shaman NPC has kidnapped several types of wyrmlings and is using them to sacrifice to his own totem dragon, a vile Red Dragon named Balzidir. The PC's are contacted by the contingent of Good Dragons (perhaps a Bronze Dragon posing as a human) to end him and rescue the wyrmlings. The reason they can't intervene themselves is due to ages-old Dragon Pacts which lay out territories for the different types to hunt in that cannot be violated. If the good dragons were to go get their youths back themselves, they would start an all-out Dragonswar that may lay to waste the world. And not only do I have my first adventure, I have a good arc for the next 11: the PCs are caught between warring dragon factions and must somehow prevent the outbreak of all-out war. They'll never face Balzidir himself, but the great wyrm is old and senile...they may face one of his young spawn, the Young-aged twins Sarabel and Vriktal, who hunger for a great war. So the PC's start in the coastal city of Vargis, a city under the protection of the Bronze Dragons, at the base of the volcanic mountain kingdom that is ruled by Red Dragons, a range that smokes and smolders with a barely-repressed explosion...here, where gnomes run the city and where animals are given rights as humans, the PCs have been contacted by a mysterious green-cloaked figure, with an urgent message... While they're making characters, I'll jump into the MM (or other sources) and pull out a few encounters...half-dragon orcs in the Simmering Mountains who won't let them pass a bridge, a stray wyrmling silver dragon who doesn't understand the PC's are here to help it, a five-headed pyrohydra with a passion for fine art, and a lone Winter Wolf warrior who is on a personal vendetta mission against Sarabel. Now, let's play! [/QUOTE]
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