D&D 5E 5th Edition Campaign Ideas and Starting Town Ideas

James Spicer

First Post
Hey guys, this is my first time on the website. I have a question to propose. I'm trying to make a campaign based around Ruronin Kenshin and TES. The Title is going to be called "The Cursed Blade Wars". And the prologue is pretty much about Makoto Shishio being corrupted by one of the 13 cursed blades in Japan and starts killing innocent people. The problem is that how do I go about making the starting setting for the campaign and what NPC's to put in throughout the campaign. Any advice would be awesome. Also, this would be my first time DMing.
 

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aco175

Legend
Like in any campaign, you should start small and expand from there. You should have some sort of outline where they players should go and how long it should take, but spend your time on what is going to happen today and next week before planning the final encounter with the BBEG. Plan the town and local landmarks around the town, plan the first dungeon, plan a few NPCs around that they will encounter. Don't worry about drawing great maps unless your players are going to see them. I used to do this and would waste my time when a stick diagram would work just as well for showing how the rooms connect. Depending on extra time each week you can expand things like NPC list and a list of names to keep around. Always keep track of where you are heading so plans can be made to keep things on track. Also, you always want a spare fight planned for when things go wrong or become stale.

Another great tool is to plan encounters or details that only become evident later in the story. Maybe there is a symbol or puzzle that they cannot decipher. A few levels later the party comes across a book with the answer in it and now can go back to finish that part of the quest. It is a bit like a video game, but works fine and many players like to "ah-ha" moment.
 

James Spicer

First Post
I plan on getting them involved by having one of the town that they are visiting be destroyed by Makoto's gang of thugs and have them escape to another town where they have the option to join one of two factions. the first one, being the "Akaiyoake" (Red Dawn), are a group of nomads that travel the land of Japan and the rest of Asia in search of wealth and wonders. The "Burūdasuku" (Blue Dusk) are group of vanguards that belong to a small section of the Japanese Government. And my plan for my group the entire time is to see that they go across Japan and some parts of Asia and collect the 13 weapon shards and bring them to some ancient temple to when they find the strength to confront Makoto and have a final confrontation at his hideout.
 


James Spicer

First Post
I meant to send this as a reply to CCS for his question.

I plan on getting them involved by having one of the town that they are visiting be destroyed by Makoto's gang of thugs and have them escape to another town where they have the option to join one of two factions. the first one, being the "Akaiyoake" (Red Dawn), are a group of nomads that travel the land of Japan and the rest of Asia in search of wealth and wonders. The "Burūdasuku" (Blue Dusk) are group of vanguards that belong to a small section of the Japanese Government. And my plan for my group the entire time is to see that they go across Japan and some parts of Asia and collect the 13 weapon shards and bring them to some ancient temple to when they find the strength to confront Makoto and have a final confrontation at his hideout.
 

Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer
It's not TES (whatever that is), but find the 4th Ed D&D version of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. There is a chapter with a small town that can be used as a home base, plus a gang of thieves that is a danger to the town. You can change the NPC personalities and descriptions as needed. Change the building descriptions from basic square blocks of stone to pagoda-style architecture and you should be ready to go.
 

KahlessNestor

Adventurer
Matt Colville has a video on building your town. I always find his stuff useful.

[video=youtube;nTbD1GJUFC0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTbD1GJUFC0&index=7&list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_[/video]
 

KahlessNestor

Adventurer
It's not TES (whatever that is), but find the 4th Ed D&D version of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. There is a chapter with a small town that can be used as a home base, plus a gang of thieves that is a danger to the town. You can change the NPC personalities and descriptions as needed. Change the building descriptions from basic square blocks of stone to pagoda-style architecture and you should be ready to go.

I believe the 4E DMG also has a town in iit? Fallcrest, I believe?
 


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