Felizginato12
First Post
I'm sure you see a LOT of these threads on the forums, but right now I've hit a major roadblock in making my new campaign.
Format: 4th edition (I've never played it and I'm really interested in trying. Also, I notice that some rules have been cleaned up and simplified, which will make this easier to play online. Yep, I'm playing this game online over AIM or some other chat room).
Number of Players: Four, I never go higher then four.
Setting: Isperia, a continent that has been warped by the effects of "the sundering". A once fertile and diverse land (you're cookie cutter fantasy land) now turned into a desert wasteland. The main focus in the world is the Tower of Babel, a large tower the size of an entire city that holds many technological wonders. (the tower itself is quite futuristic).
Genre: Steampunk (original, no?). Low magic setting (magic has been outlawed in the land. More explained later).
Things I would like to focus on: Extravagant combat, heavy emphasis on a mystery plot, deep conversations between characters and NPC's, survival and life in the wasteland.
Specific details:
As stated, the land of Isperia has been turned into a desert wasteland. After this happened, the various races started to migrate, some of them discovering the Tower of Babel. The Tower resides in the center of Isperia, and has been undiscovered thus far because the area of land it is located in has always been a harsh desert land. People started inhabiting the tower and harnessing it's technological wonders. This is when the Deva arrived (same from PhB 2 in 4th edition). The Deva came to the Tower of Babel and helped establish law and order. They also began to form guilds, which is the basis of government and economic activities.
I took these guilds from the Magic the Gathering Ravinica setting (using the same guild names, names of guild leaders, and keeping the ideals of some of these guilds intact). In my campaign, these guilds is the way in which power is separated in the tower. With the Deva gaining a huge chunk of diplomatic power in the Tower (mostly in the Azorious Senate, the most powerful guild which acts as a law making body. The Deva have the majority of the senate seats), they set fourth the act the exterminate the Kalashtar (name taken from Eberron, but besides that, no other relation). The Kalashtar are the only people born with the ability to use magic, and they taught other people how to harness it themselves. The Deva convinced the rest of the senate to believe that the Kalashtar were dangerous people, and that with the new technology being discovered, there would be no need for magic anyways. They also used religion to justify their actions, claiming that any magic outside of divine magics were blasphemous acts.
The Kalashtar started being slaughtered and all use of non-divine magic was outlawed. Magic can also be detected, so it's hard to get away with secretly using magic. Mana is a natural energy that can be bent to perform magical effects. This is how you can trace magic use; by using mana sensors to pick up strong manipulations in the mana field.
Outside of the Tower of Babel are some larger cities. Beyond that however, most communities are small and poor, and the people struggle to survive in the desert. The land and it's peoples are divided in four ways:
Babel Lands: Cities that surround the general area of the Tower of Babel. These are usually larger cities which get by pretty easily.
Outer Babel Lands: Usually small rural towns which are often detached from larger societies. These people struggle, however, they are protected and supported by the Tower of Babel in some ways.
Blacklisted Lands: These are all areas not protected by the Tower of Babel. See, the Deva came up with a new legislation that provided an ultimatum for all people in Isperia: give up your organized militaries, and be protected by the Tower of Babel. The Deva are law abiding beings, and believe in following any and all established laws, even if it is arbitrary. They also believe in equality and fairness in all aspects of life. This is why they put fourth this movement. The Deva saw that many of the smaller communities out in the deep wastes were frequently being raided by roaming groups and each other. So, the Deva decided to make warfare "fair".
All cities and towns that agreed to give up their militia were not only included in the Babel kingdom, but they were also given the privilege to petition an army. This process occurs when official leaders from different cities and towns declare war on each other. The leaders make their case to the Azorious Senate, and are commissioned an equal amount of troops trained by the Tower of Babel themselves. With many of the smaller societies out in the deep wastes desperate, they complied to these new laws. Those who didn't, were blacklisted, and their lands are outside Babel jurisdiction, protection, and law.
I sort of got this idea from the SEEDS in Final Fantasy 8. I never played the game, but a friend told me about an organization that trained mercenaries and sold them off to different nations to use in their own army. I like this idea, and decided to go a bit further. I also wanted to use this as an example of Deva personality. Their urge to make, obey, and protect any and all laws. I wanted to some how also add more dynamics to the Deva personality. I mean, they are basically "immortal", and no immortal will think like a mortal being (think of doctor Manhattan from The Watchmen, who no longer cares for humans because its hard to feel their pain and worry, since he can survive whatever will kill them, and he will live on when they are all gone).
Sorry if this part of my ideas gets messy, I'm trying to remember everything I came up with.
I added three classes. Artificer (magic artifact smugglers who raid ancient Kalashtar cities in order to find their magical implements), Psion (another class already made but not yet converted to 4E. I had the idea that the Psions were started by the elves who needed to find an alternative to practicing magic), and the Justiciar (the elite soldiers trained by the Tower of Babel. More experienced then your normal ground soldier given out to form armies. The Justiciars are experienced at hunting down magic users and have many abilities to counter magic. They are also experienced with using large, and sometimes oversized weapons).
Here are some major plot points I want to expand upon:
The Morphling (another thing taken from MTG
, yep, good ol' superman), a mysterious creature that attacks a city not to far from the Tower of Babel at the beginning of the game. Caries a quarter staff and it's body melds over it into many shapes creating new weapons (think of Carnage from Spiderman, and how he can turn his limbs into axes and scythes and such). The Morphling is believed to be magical, and sets fourth much panic in the Tower of Babel. The Morphling is encountered at different points in the story. It is later discovered that the simic combine created this being in their attempts to create organic life forms that can survive in the desert (another nod at MTG). The original Morphling was found in a large crater out in the desert as a semi-destroyed body, and used by the Simic Combine. That's as far as I've gotten with this idea.
The Deva. I had the idea that the Deva are extraterrestrials who traveled to Isperia when the Tower of Babel was opened. Their society is very pious, and they had the idea to spread their faith across the universe. They created many automations, the greatest one being Memnarch (MOAR MAGIC!), an incredibly smart AI. The planet in which Isperia is located was visited by Memnarch and the Myr (just gonna stop pointing these out now). However, Memnarch became too aware of his intelligence, and got the idea that these "heretics" shouldn't be converted but destroyed. He waged war on the people of Isperia for many years. At this time, the Kalashtar was the most powerful race in the land. They combated Memnarch with their magic, and eventually begin to defeat the machines. In a last ditch effort, Memnarch started to create the Tower of Babel, which was orriginally intended to be a weapon. It was underneath the tower where he built the Myr Matrix, a large semi-organic machine that could constantly create Myr.
Knowing that his kind would be destroyed, he retreated into the Tower of Babel and went into stasis, and in the process, activated "the sundering". The tower buried some sort of unknown technology deep in the land's soil, which began to deplete it of all nutrients. This turned Isperia into a desert land. However, as time passed, the machine malfunctioned and "the sundering" stopped, which allowed life to return over a long period of time. I'm not sure how to explain why the process started again yet.
New guild elections. I wanted this to sort of play in the background of the game's main story. The guild elections can help flesh out the guild process since I planed on having the players join up with one of the guilds. The guild elections are made to determine the leaders of the guilds.
The Psionic Order. I wanted this "monk like" order to play a large role in the game. I also got an idea to include an adventure that involves entering the mind of someone (sort of an ode to Psychonaughts, where people's minds are the game levels and they are designed to represent the person's character).
A mystery. I wanted this to become what drives the plot. While I want the Morphling to also be a mystery, I need something in a more...traditional sense. Like some sort of film noir mystery (similar to how Sin City and The Watchmen had plots revolving round a mystery and detective work). One of the players will be a Justiciar, and I want to flesh out the Justiciar way and possibly make them the one most obsessed with this mystery. I thought of connecting it to investigating the guilds for some reason. This is the one aspect I am having the most problems with, and I really wanna make it fit into the story.
I know, I know, this was really tl;dr , however, I wanna help you as much as I can so you can help me. I'm really excited about this campaign, and I need to start wrapping up all of these ideas soon.
And yeah, there are a lot of ideas taken from different places. I do this will all my campaigns, taking or reworking ideas and finding ways to mix them with others. I also like to add in a dash of my own "original" material as well. All in all, it's all about the players having fun.
So basically, this is what I'm asking.
1. Does this sound like an interesting/fun campaign?
2. Do you have any ideas for a mystery that will drive the plot?
3. Are there any ideas that should be taken out or reworked?
4. Any suggestions for the Deva mindset? I find this a very interesting and important aspect of the game.
Any other suggestions are welcomed.
Wow, just noticed I should have formatted this better. Sorry about that : /
Format: 4th edition (I've never played it and I'm really interested in trying. Also, I notice that some rules have been cleaned up and simplified, which will make this easier to play online. Yep, I'm playing this game online over AIM or some other chat room).
Number of Players: Four, I never go higher then four.
Setting: Isperia, a continent that has been warped by the effects of "the sundering". A once fertile and diverse land (you're cookie cutter fantasy land) now turned into a desert wasteland. The main focus in the world is the Tower of Babel, a large tower the size of an entire city that holds many technological wonders. (the tower itself is quite futuristic).
Genre: Steampunk (original, no?). Low magic setting (magic has been outlawed in the land. More explained later).
Things I would like to focus on: Extravagant combat, heavy emphasis on a mystery plot, deep conversations between characters and NPC's, survival and life in the wasteland.
Specific details:
As stated, the land of Isperia has been turned into a desert wasteland. After this happened, the various races started to migrate, some of them discovering the Tower of Babel. The Tower resides in the center of Isperia, and has been undiscovered thus far because the area of land it is located in has always been a harsh desert land. People started inhabiting the tower and harnessing it's technological wonders. This is when the Deva arrived (same from PhB 2 in 4th edition). The Deva came to the Tower of Babel and helped establish law and order. They also began to form guilds, which is the basis of government and economic activities.
I took these guilds from the Magic the Gathering Ravinica setting (using the same guild names, names of guild leaders, and keeping the ideals of some of these guilds intact). In my campaign, these guilds is the way in which power is separated in the tower. With the Deva gaining a huge chunk of diplomatic power in the Tower (mostly in the Azorious Senate, the most powerful guild which acts as a law making body. The Deva have the majority of the senate seats), they set fourth the act the exterminate the Kalashtar (name taken from Eberron, but besides that, no other relation). The Kalashtar are the only people born with the ability to use magic, and they taught other people how to harness it themselves. The Deva convinced the rest of the senate to believe that the Kalashtar were dangerous people, and that with the new technology being discovered, there would be no need for magic anyways. They also used religion to justify their actions, claiming that any magic outside of divine magics were blasphemous acts.
The Kalashtar started being slaughtered and all use of non-divine magic was outlawed. Magic can also be detected, so it's hard to get away with secretly using magic. Mana is a natural energy that can be bent to perform magical effects. This is how you can trace magic use; by using mana sensors to pick up strong manipulations in the mana field.
Outside of the Tower of Babel are some larger cities. Beyond that however, most communities are small and poor, and the people struggle to survive in the desert. The land and it's peoples are divided in four ways:
Babel Lands: Cities that surround the general area of the Tower of Babel. These are usually larger cities which get by pretty easily.
Outer Babel Lands: Usually small rural towns which are often detached from larger societies. These people struggle, however, they are protected and supported by the Tower of Babel in some ways.
Blacklisted Lands: These are all areas not protected by the Tower of Babel. See, the Deva came up with a new legislation that provided an ultimatum for all people in Isperia: give up your organized militaries, and be protected by the Tower of Babel. The Deva are law abiding beings, and believe in following any and all established laws, even if it is arbitrary. They also believe in equality and fairness in all aspects of life. This is why they put fourth this movement. The Deva saw that many of the smaller communities out in the deep wastes were frequently being raided by roaming groups and each other. So, the Deva decided to make warfare "fair".
All cities and towns that agreed to give up their militia were not only included in the Babel kingdom, but they were also given the privilege to petition an army. This process occurs when official leaders from different cities and towns declare war on each other. The leaders make their case to the Azorious Senate, and are commissioned an equal amount of troops trained by the Tower of Babel themselves. With many of the smaller societies out in the deep wastes desperate, they complied to these new laws. Those who didn't, were blacklisted, and their lands are outside Babel jurisdiction, protection, and law.
I sort of got this idea from the SEEDS in Final Fantasy 8. I never played the game, but a friend told me about an organization that trained mercenaries and sold them off to different nations to use in their own army. I like this idea, and decided to go a bit further. I also wanted to use this as an example of Deva personality. Their urge to make, obey, and protect any and all laws. I wanted to some how also add more dynamics to the Deva personality. I mean, they are basically "immortal", and no immortal will think like a mortal being (think of doctor Manhattan from The Watchmen, who no longer cares for humans because its hard to feel their pain and worry, since he can survive whatever will kill them, and he will live on when they are all gone).
Sorry if this part of my ideas gets messy, I'm trying to remember everything I came up with.
I added three classes. Artificer (magic artifact smugglers who raid ancient Kalashtar cities in order to find their magical implements), Psion (another class already made but not yet converted to 4E. I had the idea that the Psions were started by the elves who needed to find an alternative to practicing magic), and the Justiciar (the elite soldiers trained by the Tower of Babel. More experienced then your normal ground soldier given out to form armies. The Justiciars are experienced at hunting down magic users and have many abilities to counter magic. They are also experienced with using large, and sometimes oversized weapons).
Here are some major plot points I want to expand upon:
The Morphling (another thing taken from MTG
, yep, good ol' superman), a mysterious creature that attacks a city not to far from the Tower of Babel at the beginning of the game. Caries a quarter staff and it's body melds over it into many shapes creating new weapons (think of Carnage from Spiderman, and how he can turn his limbs into axes and scythes and such). The Morphling is believed to be magical, and sets fourth much panic in the Tower of Babel. The Morphling is encountered at different points in the story. It is later discovered that the simic combine created this being in their attempts to create organic life forms that can survive in the desert (another nod at MTG). The original Morphling was found in a large crater out in the desert as a semi-destroyed body, and used by the Simic Combine. That's as far as I've gotten with this idea.The Deva. I had the idea that the Deva are extraterrestrials who traveled to Isperia when the Tower of Babel was opened. Their society is very pious, and they had the idea to spread their faith across the universe. They created many automations, the greatest one being Memnarch (MOAR MAGIC!), an incredibly smart AI. The planet in which Isperia is located was visited by Memnarch and the Myr (just gonna stop pointing these out now). However, Memnarch became too aware of his intelligence, and got the idea that these "heretics" shouldn't be converted but destroyed. He waged war on the people of Isperia for many years. At this time, the Kalashtar was the most powerful race in the land. They combated Memnarch with their magic, and eventually begin to defeat the machines. In a last ditch effort, Memnarch started to create the Tower of Babel, which was orriginally intended to be a weapon. It was underneath the tower where he built the Myr Matrix, a large semi-organic machine that could constantly create Myr.
Knowing that his kind would be destroyed, he retreated into the Tower of Babel and went into stasis, and in the process, activated "the sundering". The tower buried some sort of unknown technology deep in the land's soil, which began to deplete it of all nutrients. This turned Isperia into a desert land. However, as time passed, the machine malfunctioned and "the sundering" stopped, which allowed life to return over a long period of time. I'm not sure how to explain why the process started again yet.
New guild elections. I wanted this to sort of play in the background of the game's main story. The guild elections can help flesh out the guild process since I planed on having the players join up with one of the guilds. The guild elections are made to determine the leaders of the guilds.
The Psionic Order. I wanted this "monk like" order to play a large role in the game. I also got an idea to include an adventure that involves entering the mind of someone (sort of an ode to Psychonaughts, where people's minds are the game levels and they are designed to represent the person's character).
A mystery. I wanted this to become what drives the plot. While I want the Morphling to also be a mystery, I need something in a more...traditional sense. Like some sort of film noir mystery (similar to how Sin City and The Watchmen had plots revolving round a mystery and detective work). One of the players will be a Justiciar, and I want to flesh out the Justiciar way and possibly make them the one most obsessed with this mystery. I thought of connecting it to investigating the guilds for some reason. This is the one aspect I am having the most problems with, and I really wanna make it fit into the story.
I know, I know, this was really tl;dr , however, I wanna help you as much as I can so you can help me. I'm really excited about this campaign, and I need to start wrapping up all of these ideas soon.
And yeah, there are a lot of ideas taken from different places. I do this will all my campaigns, taking or reworking ideas and finding ways to mix them with others. I also like to add in a dash of my own "original" material as well. All in all, it's all about the players having fun.
So basically, this is what I'm asking.
1. Does this sound like an interesting/fun campaign?
2. Do you have any ideas for a mystery that will drive the plot?
3. Are there any ideas that should be taken out or reworked?
4. Any suggestions for the Deva mindset? I find this a very interesting and important aspect of the game.
Any other suggestions are welcomed.
Wow, just noticed I should have formatted this better. Sorry about that : /
