5 Step Campaign in 5 Weeks

[Paka]

This would be a five games wherein the entire campaign takes place in these 5 sessions.

Anybody remember those 3 step miniatures in which a single character concept would be taken from low level peon to mid level adventurer to high level demi-god in three miniatures that showed the progress? This is the campaign equivalent.

Five games in which the players are 1st level the first game, 5th, 10th, 15th and finally 20th.

These five games would simulate a campaign in that after each game the players would kind of decide what happens in the years that it would take for them to get to the next stage.

The players would decide what kind of adventure they'd like the next stage to be too, a villain or conflict they'd like to tackle.

Rules Wrinkle - If a player rolls five 1's or five 20's in a game something big happens.

1's - five 1's means that the character won't be back for the next game. They will perish or return as a villain in the adventures the characters have between stages...adventures that don't really happen.

20's - five 20's means that some legendary item, noble seat or station will be granted to the character in the intervening time between stages.

This game would be a vehicle for me to use my Failed Apprentice world (my name for the world that got dinged in the WOTC Setting Search) in which 5 was a big honking deal.

Please let me know any d20 rules wrinkles that you see coming when setting up a game of this sort.

 

[Ricochet]

If there are short-lived PCs (humans, halflings), you might want to use the age modifiers along the way..

A rusty fighter, gnarled wizard and so forth

 

[Paka]

Honestly, i had forgotten that age rules even existed in D&D.

Thanks, good call.

 

[bolen]

Great idea I may have to steal it

 

[Paka]

Idea theft is part of the reason we all prowl these boards, isn't it?

And to put our ideas to be used by bruthah and sistah gamers.

Anyway, here is the world that I'd use it in, written in a format that some of y'all might find familiar:

Pent

“I’ve read in dead worlds’ bibles that some Gods created their worlds in six days, took the seventh off. We created our world in five and haven’t stopped working since.”

1) Pent is a fantasy Alamo in the heart of reality where heroes battle to survive by pillaging the finest elements of the surrounding worlds before they fall- the last stand against the encroaching stagnation and destruction of the multiverse.

"Five was the frame and we would hang it all from that. Most worlds are a terrifically complex system of planets, moons, alphabets with corresponding numbers generating the power behind numerology, astrology and magic. Pentagrams and pentagons of mythology, philosophy, and geography cross the continent, suspended in the core of the ever-shrinking face of reality.”

2) Heroes are found among the travel-weary cross-planar immigrants, survivors of dead worlds or Pent-born locals, often oblivious to their home’s origins and the struggle around them. Pentads struggle to find the artifact, the hero or the philosophy that might save the dying multiverse. Some say that so much power was invested in the number five during Pent’s creation that the upcoming fifth generation will have extraordinary destinies, unknown to even Pent’s creators.

“Some have to be shown the math, others have to be shown the prophecy. Then the five questions, ‘Do you truly accept that your world is on the brink of destruction? Do you know what is destroying existence? Will you help us? What of your world do you want to save as a final testament? How can we get your final testament safely to Pent?’”

3) The Pentads are explorers, working their way through the planes, hoping to salvage what they can. Sometimes they save entire societies, and sometimes they come away with nothing more than an epitaph to place on a world’s tomb. Propheseers look to the people, hoping to find a messiah, an inspiring leader or an Arcane Prodigy. The Order of Final Knights is a collection of select soldiers from across reality. Plane-runners sail creation’s tides, importing and exporting; hoping to turn a profit before the worlds end.

“The knowledge of our struggle is a burden, yet it brings out both the best and the worst in all of us. We fear what might happen if everyone were to know. Some might join the effort but others might simply give in to despair.”

4) Doomsayers float in their citadel, distributing mercy killings to entire worlds. Even members of the Pentads grow disenchanted or greedy, pillaging or collecting ransom from the many worlds they are trying to save. The destruction that has left worlds upon worlds a rotting wreckage remains a faceless villain, seemingly a force of nature.

“From the Troll-infested Bridge Cathedral of Heimdall to the arcane theocracy of Arcaith, enough drama and villainy exist to make sure that only the finest heroes are initiated into the Pentads and the deadly business of scavenging worlds for hope.”

5) A precarious balance of destruction and creation, made all the more potent by Pent’s base number five, sitting at its foundation like a powerful seed, await Pent’s Wizards. As the multiverse unravels, magic has become increasingly powerful, dangerous and unpredictable.

6) Pent insists that its Dungeon Masters and Players utilize the vast resources of d20 system. The world encourages and demands its owners to incorporate their favorite Prestige Classes, Magic Items or N.P.C’s from the myriad of settings on the shelves of every gaming store and to dust off the home brewed worlds in every gamer’s imagination.

 

[bolen]

How is this game going? have you played yet what happened

 

[Balgus]

wait... i am confused. So you play 5 games in 5 weeks, and at the beginning of each game, the chars are at lvl 1,5,10,15,20 respectively, and by the ned of the 5th game- they are epic?

So what about the players? do they get to lvl up in the middle of games? Like "bring 5 char sheets to the game today- and we will change sheets as you level up." Or do they just skip from one to 5?

And then how long are these games? like 20 hours? cause it is not very fun to jump levels in a 3 hour session- especially 4 levels.

So- what if the player is not used to the char. Making that rapid a jump would mean that they aer elosing a lot in the RP and experience side of playing. Certain player knowledge is assumed and expected when you play you char for a year. but when you only had him for three days- and he is at level 20, you forget to use certain things, or you dont' do something obvious.

But that is just me...

 

[JoeGKushner]

I think something like this could be fun.

I'd put a lot of downtime in those periods though.

One thing that gets a little old with steady campaign play is the whole comic book feel it gets as the party is always on the move and always fighting something, doing something, never really resting or building up their contacts and ideas because to do this long term style would eat up a lot of everyone's time for one character to build his contacts as the GM can only focus heavily one one NPC per player or one organization per player. You can't have four players all speaking at once and focus on each one.

Heck, manga and anime do this sort of thing all the time. Berserk does it at least three times with flashbacks and time skips.

 

[Paka]

Okay, the first adventure is 1st level. This adventure might take one game or two but hopefully no more, just a set up on how the adventurers got started and their first victory.

The second time the players sit down their characters are 5th level. At the end of the last 1st level game the group sits down and levels their 1st level characters up to 5th. Then we decide as a group what happened in between to get them to 5th level, what adventures went down. If a group were so inclined they could even name the modules that never happened just for fun.

So, after each session the group get's together, levels their characters up 5th-10th-15th-20th and makes up the story for the middle-ground in the middle, hopefully building towards a big bad 20th level blow-out at the end.

Yes, there is room for error and yes, characters created in this manner rather than in an organic manner that takes years are surely different but it is just an idea on how to make a mini-campaign simulate years of gaming.

Most groups never finish their campaigns, so this is one way to have closure in a month or two.

With the Epic books, the adventures can go into truly galactic and godlike play.

 

[Paka]

A friend and I are starting a monthly D&D group and this idea might be the game I end up running after the first of the year.

Any comments or criticism would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.