D&D (2024) Menzoberranzan Meets The Sopranos - A Drow Campaign.

[Teemu]

I've also brainstormed a drow campaign but the issue I have is that the game would by its nature mostly feature the Underdark, which I think might end up feeling too one note over the course of a long campaign. The Underdark is almost purely a fantastical environment, which means that people don't have an easy time picturing it as anything beyond caves and caverns. That's cool as a singular adventure location, but I think it could be too limiting long term. Thus, I think for a drow campaign I would think about how to incorporate the surface and other locations beyond the Underdark in order to make the story environments more interesting.

 

[Zardnaar]

I've also brainstormed a drow campaign but the issue I have is that the game would by its nature mostly feature the Underdark, which I think might end up feeling too one note over the course of a long campaign. The Underdark is almost purely a fantastical environment, which means that people don't have an easy time picturing it as anything beyond caves and caverns. That's cool as a singular adventure location, but I think it could be too limiting long term. Thus, I think for a drow campaign I would think about how to incorporate the surface and other locations beyond the Underdark in order to make the story environments more interesting.

Ancient empire outpost tgat has a portal in it keyed to areas around said empire.

 

[TheSword]

I've also brainstormed a drow campaign but the issue I have is that the game would by its nature mostly feature the Underdark, which I think might end up feeling too one note over the course of a long campaign. The Underdark is almost purely a fantastical environment, which means that people don't have an easy time picturing it as anything beyond caves and caverns. That's cool as a singular adventure location, but I think it could be too limiting long term. Thus, I think for a drow campaign I would think about how to incorporate the surface and other locations beyond the Underdark in order to make the story environments more interesting.

The difficulty with too much travelling is that a mafia style campaign really requires power structures and society to function and Drow don’t play well with surface folks. You also can lose the growing knowledge and accrual of contacts/authority that comes from a city campaign.

I think if you focus on the cities and communities - Menzoberranzan, Gracklestugh, Neverlight Grove, Mantol Derith, Ched Nassed, The Darklake etc you get more variety without leaving the Underdark.

I also think having different regions of the Underdark have very different structures and feel you break the feeling of repeated caverns. The wormwrithings might be full of curling smooth 10’ tunnels, while there might also be fungal jungles, lava lakes, lush caves etc.

All’s that said, I think a raid on the surface for specific purpose might work - collecting an artefaxt or magic item for instance or slaying elves to get the favour of Lolth. Another option might be to visit the Demonweb pits. Or training at Sorcere might require a sojourn on an elemental plane.

 

[Bomberooski]

I've also brainstormed a drow campaign but the issue I have is that the game would by its nature mostly feature the Underdark, which I think might end up feeling too one note over the course of a long campaign. The Underdark is almost purely a fantastical environment, which means that people don't have an easy time picturing it as anything beyond caves and caverns. That's cool as a singular adventure location, but I think it could be too limiting long term. Thus, I think for a drow campaign I would think about how to incorporate the surface and other locations beyond the Underdark in order to make the story environments more interesting.

Agree with this if the adventure leaves Menzoberranzan. But I think you HAVE to make this a city focused adventure (like you said in your post above)

Is the outside world totally out of the question in a campaign like this??

 

[Lidgar]

These are two great resources for an Menzo campaign. I once ran one with the major drow houses setting up a very temporary alliance to combat an external threat - an army of demons led by a group of very powerful driders looking to destroy the city and its inhabitants - and found these publications to be invaluable.

 

[Stormonu]

I think you could get a lot of use of the Faction and Turf rules/advice from Blades in the Dark for this sort of the game to keep track of all the political going-ons in the city and how/when various NPCs factions and individuals might interact with the group - especially boil-over points that take a "standard" mission and turn it into a disaster to be reckoned with.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

@TheSword out of curiosity, is there any reason you're running this with DnD instead of Warhammer?

 

[humble minion]

I’m not normally one for evil campaigns, but this is the exactly sort of thing I could enthusiastically get behind. Great concept.

A few random thoughts etc.

What school do drow rogues train in? Presumably Melee-Magthere?

Don't have the first few levels be just about the schools, and don't have the schools be sacrosant and immune to normal Menzoberranzan politics. Drow family rivalries go everywhere. If your house has enemies who have scions who are students (in instructors...) atthe schools while the PCs attend, then all sorts of things could happen. Sabotaged spell components, interference with exams or trials, biased assessment or rigged tasks, etc etc etc. Hell, even the High Priestess character might interfere, having one of the Matron Mother's children die or fail out of school can only strengthen her hand within the house.

Have you decided if the Sorcere master is going to be the father of the PCs? Or even if any of the PCs have the same father, or if any of their fathers are still alive? While filial affection among the drow is ... limited, let's just say, if a father sees their child succeeding in a House that's failing, they might try to lure them away - perhaps to some mercenary group, perhaps to be a consort in another House. Or they miight try to ride that child's coattails up the ladder.

I assume the elderboy is very formidable in personal combat to make up for his other failings, or else the matron mother would have gotten rid of him? Or is there simply no alternative at this time? Presumably the martial PC is being groomed to take his place eventually. He of course will be aware of this, and will know what it means for his likely life expectancy.

One of the measures of strength of a house is the number of its nobles, especially its daughters. Drow society is matrilinear, I believe the children of male noble children are pretty much commoners(?). Would the matron mother encourage the High Priestess to take a consort of her own and have children? On one hand, it'd strengthen the house, but on the other hand, it'd strengthen the High Priestess's hand within the house. I assume that the matron mother might still be trying to have additional children herself? And of course having one or more of the House's chief combat or magical assets in the later stages of pregnancy makes a house vulnerable. And then of course there's the PCs. They might be positively encouraged or even ordered to take particular consorts for political reasons, or to bind a commoner with useful skills to the House. Dynastic marriages don't get talked about much in drow politics because the Houses are so walled off from each other and unwilling to cooperate, but it doesn't mean partnering can't be a useful political maneuver.

Have you thought much about the history of the house? The previous matron saw a decline from near the council to mid 20s in ranking, but that implies the matron before her was presumably quite competent. What happened to THAT matron mother, and how did the relative incompetent end up taking over? Maybe the current matron was an instructor at Arach-Tirilith or something, away from the house and unable to intervene? The now-deceased incompetent might not have known all the secrets of the house if her predecessor hadn't seen fit to share them. Similarly, during the house's decline, the compound may have been partially closed down or mothballed due to lack of soldiers to guard it, or commoners to fill it, or funds to run it. What could have been going on in the walled-off pieces when the PCs need to re-open them once the house's fortunes start turning again?

This is a great idea, keep us updated how it goes.

 

[TheSword]

@TheSword out of curiosity, is there any reason you're running this with DnD instead of Warhammer?

Good question. I think the reason is that a Drow political campaign with a Cleric, a Wizard and a Fighter is about as high fantasy as you can get. i love WFRP 4e for many reasons but I think for something like this there is comfort in the familiar.

 

[TheSword]

These are two great resources for an Menzo campaign. I once ran one with the major drow houses setting up a very temporary alliance to combat an external threat - an army of demons led by a group of very powerful driders looking to destroy the city and its inhabitants - and found these publications to be invaluable.

Awesome products I heartily agree. I think the adventure from the boxed set is one of my main inspirations for the campaign.

I will add two more great products I think support as well…

The first is a brilliant 3e sourcebook for all underground adventures that really helps avoid the sameness that was mentioned earlier about caverns.

The second updates the city in a system agnostic fashion at the end of 4e and has lots of timeline info, probably the best gazeteer of the city and advice for running an evil campaign.