Advice/Ideas Needed! Help Me Improve My Campaign!

[Lestat De Lioncourt]

And then you idly ask the player what their sibling/friend was wearing the day they left for the capital. What sticks in their mind?

And later in the game, a really nasty ghoul / skeleton warrior / vampire / undead badass pops up wearing exactly that clothing. Does your player take down his best friend or is there a way to save them?

Yes I had thought of that but didn't bother to mention it as it seemed like a detail. I was thinking that they would find their sister that was taken years ago still looking exactly the same way she was before she was taken but paler and her face resembling a wolf. Obviously she had turned to a vampire and she would "beg" her brother(s) to take her back home and help her save her soul from her curse when in fact she wants to make them feel sorry for her and feast on their blood when (and if) they approach her peacefully.

 

[Lestat De Lioncourt]

One thing I did in my old 3.5 campaign, I gave the players a piece of the prophecy. They then wanted to find out more about the prophecy and see if somebody could interpret the lines of it they had heard. So, I told the players that the four leading sages/experts on prophecy were located at A, B, C and D. So I did not have to do too much planning, each sage would tell them pretty much the same thing, but I had a different adventure planned on the journey to each (one was located in a desert city, another in a city bordering a jungle, another across the ocean and the closest was in the heart of a tyrannical city that hated anybody that was not human, of which there were several non human PCs). So, the players had the option of choosing four different adventures, but would end up getting basically the same information in the end, which would lead them to location E.


However, if Kane turns the whole world into vampires - how do they survive? Whose blood will they drink? Maybe Kane does something to allow all vampires to walk around in daylight and make them powerful enough to rule the world in the open? Or, maybe Kane is trying to get the seven soul pieces for himself so he can make himself into a vampiric demi-god so he can rule the world with an iron fist?

I had thought of the same thing having different adventures through different landscapes and problems and side quests since the are 7 totally different kingdoms. For example one kingdom's landscape would mostly be mountains and snow (see The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim) so the players would have to deal with the snow storms cold climate and the dangers of sliding and falling of a cliff as well as a totally different kind of monsters they where used to at their warm and mostly-valleys-kingdom and totally different kind of side quests.

As for Kane yes I do need to think of something to make the let's-polute-all-the-world-with-vampires plan, work. I do like your idea though!

 

[Lestat De Lioncourt]

I talked with my friends (the players) and gave them some very general info about the back story and they said they do want to find out what is going on why are people been taken away from their homes and why the kings are at war with each other and never age. I even asked them if they want to be personally involved with the main quest(death of family member although I didn't give them this detail) and they want it to be personal. But other than that I will follow the rest of your advice and try to make it in general more free to chose. As for me being soft and wanting them to succeed, of course I do otherwise why would they play I want them to live and succeed. I don't want them to fail. But if I understand correctly what you mean is me keeping a balance between success and failure and to proceed accordingly depending on the choices they make right? For example if a low level PC decides to charge by himself a group of 10 vampires and 5 undeads he will most likely die and I shouldn't "help" him win. I think there are those DMs that want their players to live and succeed, those that are too hard on them and want their NPCs to succeed and the best kind those who keep a balance between success and failure. I'll try to be the third!

 

[Lestat De Lioncourt]

Talked to the players they seemed quite interested in my background story and wanted to find out what is happening. When I asked them how would they like to get involved in the story, if they want it to be something personal or something else, coincidental perhaps, they wanted it to be personal to have a reason to go questing. One of my players even made his background and already found a personal reason to search for the truth (which was actually pretty similar to where I was thinking to start them) and we are going to start playing at least after two months!! Also I should have mentioned that most of the ideas (undead vampires, leading armies and having epic battles, dragons involved etc etc) where inspired from what my friends wanted to have. What can I say I know the guys too well
Thanks for the advice to talk to them about the basic idea and "lore" and see what they think. During the following months until we start I will keep asking for what their ideas etc and decide what to include add or remove. Thanks again

 

[Havrik Stoneskimmer]

I think it doesn't just have to be about whether you allow your players to end up in a TPK. It means you have to be prepared to let the players succeed or fail and let the results of that drive your story.

So perhaps you have a scenario where the evil cultists are trying to obtain some magic McGuffin that they need to summon a demon. The goal for the players is obviously to prevent them from obtaining the McGuffin. But what happens if they fail? You have to be prepared to let your NPCs succeed and work out where your story goes now. Maybe the PCs now need to find some way to sabotage the summoning ritual, or maybe they can try to steal the McGuffin back. If they fail at that, maybe the NPCs summon their demon - now what?

Don't go out of your way to make your players fail, but allow their failure as a possible outcome, and make sure your campaign story can accommodate that.

 

[Lestat De Lioncourt]

Don't go out of your way to make your players fail, but allow their failure as a possible outcome, and make sure your campaign story can accommodate that.

I know exactly what you mean! That's exactly what I intend to do!

 

[NewJeffCT]

I had thought of the same thing having different adventures through different landscapes and problems and side quests since the are 7 totally different kingdoms. For example one kingdom's landscape would mostly be mountains and snow (see The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim) so the players would have to deal with the snow storms cold climate and the dangers of sliding and falling of a cliff as well as a totally different kind of monsters they where used to at their warm and mostly-valleys-kingdom and totally different kind of side quests.

As for Kane yes I do need to think of something to make the let's-polute-all-the-world-with-vampires plan, work. I do like your idea though!

I like going through 7 kingdoms and 7 different landscapes. However, you also have to do something about what happens when the bad guys (especially Kane) find out about the PCs. One evil king losing his item/dying is maybe a coincidence, but what about two of them? Heck, if two or three vampire kings get killed/conquered, maybe Kane will get the remaining vampire kings to unite against the PCs?

 

[Lestat De Lioncourt]

I like going through 7 kingdoms and 7 different landscapes. However, you also have to do something about what happens when the bad guys (especially Kane) find out about the PCs. One evil king losing his item/dying is maybe a coincidence, but what about two of them? Heck, if two or three vampire kings get killed/conquered, maybe Kane will get the remaining vampire kings to unite against the PCs?

Yes something like that. Maybe even bring together an undead army (zombies, ghouls etc) march against the PCs and the kingdom(s) the PCs freed from the vampire kings to kill the rebels and reclaim the lands!

 

[NewJeffCT]

Yes something like that. Maybe even bring together an undead army (zombies, ghouls etc) march against the PCs and the kingdom(s) the PCs freed from the vampire kings to kill the rebels and reclaim the lands!

sounds pretty cool - good luck to you.

 

[Lestat De Lioncourt]

sounds pretty cool - good luck to you.

Thanks dude