Campaigns in a nutshell. Adventures in a sentence.

[Carpe DM]

Played (all in my home-made world of Arva, see the sig).

The War of Naming

The blackscaled soldiers of the Targolid Imperium swarm over the borders. The Unnamed Horror has risen again to lead armies of living siege engines. And in the small town of Westmarch in the Northern Marches, quiet country folk step out of the Sobbing Ghost Tavern and into legend. Played from levels 1-19.

The Messene Crusades

Following the defeat of the Targolid Imperium in the War of Naming, the Tetrarch of Selene declares a crusade to recapture Messian, the Holy City. Knights, pilgrims, and madmen mix with the citizens of Holy Messian, and the result is something no-one could have foreseen.
Played from levels 1-15.

HeimskringlaSaga

Hung from the ash-tree / gently swaying
Carved on the chest-bone / was the corpse-knot
Bound to One-Eye / Father, far-seer
We his Einherjar / He our Betrayer
Set sail the Naglfar / nail-boat of horror
Then sing the sword-song / hail the world's ending

Played from level 1-8, ongoing.

The Graveyard Shift

"Excellence, Integrity, Courage, Community, Service"
- Official Motto, Kingsbridge City Watch

"Why does this crap ALWAYS happen on the graveyard shift?"
- Unofficial Motto, Third Watch (aka The Graveyard Shift)

Played from level 1-10.

The Divine Comedy

"Nobody speaks more of nationhood and unity, and has less, than the cities of the Iostian League of Selene."

The players must survive the murky and shifting factions of Iostian politics -- no easy feat when they themselves are heretics, and the supporters of Emperor and Tetrarch are at each other's throats.

(Modeled on medieval Italy. Serious aside: It turns out there really have been D&D adventurers in real life -- look up "condottieri" in Wikipedia).

Played from level 1-5 (ongoing).

Thirty Pieces of Silver

Judas Iscariot. Brutus. Magneto. Sometimes the fates decree that a soul must be damned so that the world may be saved. Anti-heroes go where angels -- and paladins -- could never tread.

In planning.


best,

Carpe

 

[Shades of Green]

Frozen Age: A magical experiment gone awry has hurled the world into an ice age. As glaciers cover the old cities and blizzards terrorize the surviving populance, terrible creatures of old - mammoths, saber-tooth cats and cave-bears - roam the land. Can the heroes brave the dangers of the frozen wasteland, dig deep into the ice-choked ruins of the old cities, and recover old artifacts to bring Spring back once more, and all of this before the (now strengthened) Gods of Ice bring the world entirely within their grip?

Evolutionary Crossroads: In a primeval stone-age, the heroes - warriors, hunters and shamans of their primitive culture - must fight off the dreaded alien Illithids and their infernal plans to interfere with Mankind's evolution (aiming to turn men into domesticated animals fit for Illithid consumption, ceremorphosis and menial tasks). Could the brawn and brains of brave cavemen defeat the otherworldly technology of the Illithid masterminds?

Decline and Fall: The Empire has collapse under the pressure of Goblinoid invasions from without and a bloody struggle for the Mithril Throne from within. Now, Goblinoids and ruffians run rampart through the once peaceful land; cities lie in semi-ruin; the economy has collapsed due to the massive disruption of communications and trade; and minor warlords crave out their own pocket-empires out of the ruins of the Empire. Chaos reigns; opportunity abounds.

Into the Stars: The year is 2063 and Humanity is under attack by the Grays and their assorted alien mercenaries. The PCs, Human-Gray hybrids liberated from a crashed alien craft 20 years ago, posses a unique advantage: their brain structure allows them to establish the mind-machine link necessary to pilot an alien ship both in normal space and in Jumpspace. Now, piloting a captured alien craft, the PCs are sent to explore the universe, gathering information about the Gray empire, looking for technology which could be reverse-engineered, and seeking allies against the Grays. But could they unearth and defeat the Illithid masterminds who hold the real power behind the thrones of the Grays?

Thawed Horrors (one-off): PCs are Star Marines sent to investigate the loss of contact with a colony on a frozen world in the Outer Rim. They are armed with the pinnacles of Humanity's martial technology and posses the best combat training in Known Space, but could they survive the machinations of an Aboleth Savant, older than time itself, who was awoken from eons of frozen slumber by the colony's cursory terraformation attempts? Opposition would include various abberations frozen (and thawed!) along with the Aboleth, colonists possesed by the creature's mental powers, and Skum bred in haste by the monstrosity, not to mention the Aboleth Savant himself...

 

[Herobizkit]

The Long Road: The modern world that we know has a hidden partner, Gaia, the realm of the fey and the magical, hidden from us for over a thousand years.

This prompted a memory that I may or may not have had.

I recall there being some kind of made-for-tv movie that was supposed to be about three fantasy words existing simultaneously in the same space, so that anything that happened on one affected the other two. I don't think it made it to air or, if it did, I clearly missed it. Does this ring a bell for anyone?

 

[Shades of Green]

Broken Times: A millennium ago, the Ancients have fought a terrible war among themselves using magic and steamtech so powerful that, once they were done, reality itself was twisted fractured: hordes of abberations now live where wildlife used to be; magic works in unexpected ways near spell-blasted ruins; ancient machines roam the countryside, fulfilling orders which are now a thousand years out of date; and the dead sleep uneasily in their tombs, stirred by residual magical energies left over from bygone spells. It is now time for the PCs to rebuild civilization, to seek out the treasures of the old world, and to right ancient wrongs.

 

[GreatLemur]

The Divine Comedy

"Nobody speaks more of nationhood and unity, and has less, than the cities of the Iostian League of Selene."

The players must survive the murky and shifting factions of Iostian politics -- no easy feat when they themselves are heretics, and the supporters of Emperor and Tetrarch are at each other's throats.

(Modeled on medieval Italy. Serious aside: It turns out there really have been D&D adventurers in real life -- look up "consiglieri" in Wikipedia).

Aw, damn, that sounds awesome. I've been thinking for a while that medieval Italy would make a great source for a campaign: Take the religious corruption of Rome, the cutthroat mercenary families and artistic revolution of Florence, and the canals of Venice, and you've got a hell of a cool D&D setting. Really annoyed me when I found out that Scott Lynch beat me to it (and, good Christ, it's a cool book).

But anyway, I don't think I'm seeing what you saw in the "consiglieri" article. Were you thinking of something else?

 

[funkysnunkulator]

adventure in a single sentence?!?!?!?!?!?!

beer run: absolutely NOTHING could POSSIBLY go wrong for the party because this adventure is exactly what you think it is......

 

[Carpe DM]

Condottieri

Sorry, I'm a putz.

And, if any of you are Arthur Conan Doyle fans, and want to see the source material, check out Sir John Hawkwood and The White Company.

 

[funkysnunkulator]

don't be sorry. however, feel free to be a putz!! whatever blows your hair back!! hahahahaha!!

the links aren't really understood. what is the adventure here? a mercenary thing?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Based on a short story I was writing but will probably never complete...

Not So Charmed (an "all-ages" mini-campaign)

The party is hunting Prince Charming, a man they now know to be a gifted Illusionist (or Enchanter) grifter, con-man, philanderer and bigamist (for the record, his title is real, but he gambled his birthright away to his brothers). Hired by a group of seven angry dwarven miners who seek to avenge the defilement of their beloved Schneweiß, the party soon finds that Charming has left a trail of broken hearts and empty royal treasuries all across Grimmlandia.

The party's mission: bring him back alive! The dwarves want him to do the honorable thing by their mistress.

Unfortunately, others left in this fallen prince's wake are not so concerned with Prince Charming's health. Princess Anne Phibia (his first wife), Princess Longhair, and Princess Narco-Lepsis (and several other jilted royals) have all hired their own bounty hunters, and a group of his non-royal victims (organized by a poor, bamboozled scullery maid who thought she had been rescued from her wicked stepmother & step-sisters) pooled their resources to do likewise as well...

None, however, will stoop to making a widow of another of his victims.

The sands are trickling through the hourglass as the various bounty hunters pursue the landless lothario...who will get to him first?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Bavarian Stormtroopers in King Arthur's Court

A small force of Nazis seeking the Spear of Destiny accidentally rip a hole in time & space, winding up in a fantasy world.

Initially, their superior firepower gives them a huge advantage, but since they have no supply lines nor any engineers/inventors, they can't replenish their ammo and fuel. One of the smarter commanders, the dour Oberst Sigfried "Sauer" Ramm of the "Brennendes Augen" Armor Division, decides to consolidate his gains with his remaining power, taking over a mid-sized city-state before they completely run out of supplies.

Once the takeover is complete, the remaining firepower is on display as a potential threat- kept up as best they can, but rarely used.

In the meantime, they use their newfound authority to muster world-specific military forces in order to bring the 3.5 Reich to this new world...