Camaigns/Adventurers.

[Alexander123]

I have a case of writers block for an adventure/campaign that I am writing and I wanted to know what tools (websites w/ guidelines etc.) you use when creating an adventure/campaign. Do you use published adventures or do you write them yourself? Any advice would be appreciated. The campaign is going to take place in Eberron in case that helps.

 

[Tovec]

I've been DMing for about 5 years, and while I recognize that isn't much compared to the ol' "been around since 1st edition" people, I feel its given me a bit of insight into the 3.5 system.

Okay, to start with I come up with a premise of what I want the party to do. Be it steal an artifact, stop some big bad from doing something, destroying a building or what have you. Then I come up with the main opposition to this, they should be against whatever the party is against and be the main antagonists to them. They should be creatures, a person, a force, Something the party can fight against, gain power and eventually defeat. They should be something the party will kill on sight, more or less anyway.

After that I like to give them a wrench in the plans, pieces of a puzzle to collect and a benefactor that wants them to succeed. The pieces can be whatever you want them to be and be held by whatever you want to hold them. As far as the benefactor they should be someone with status or power, someone who can send help if absolutely needed, someone who can give power to them in whatever form and be able to keep them motivated. Now this isn't a necessity in ALL games but it fits very well in most.

Okay, onto how to do the details of what I just said about. We know there is a good side (benefactor+the party) and a bad side (BBEG+minions) then you have to get them to fight. Usually an all out fight isn't going to work because the party should be the ones who will prevail. For this reason, avoid wars and especially battles unless its toward the end of the game.
Have them dungeon delve, its what most of the classes were built for. Have the enemy win sometimes to really get them motivated.
Another trick I like to use is bring in other powerhouses which can side with either group, or someone who was on the BBEG's side but you can try and win over. Give them lots of OPPORTUNITIES to get real power to fight the enemy but make it something they have to do, not merely something that is given - generally speaking.

Beyond that, if you have to have them working with a larger group - such as an army or in a battle - try and make them an elite team or shock troop. They'll enjoy their role much more than just blending in with the rest of the level X fighters.
One more thing, steal whatever you can get away with. Who says its wrong to have the BBEG be a giant eye in a black tower with thousands of goblins protecting him, and having the party try and sneak into a volcano to destroy his ring - the one thing that keeps him tethered to this world? Just change enough things that they won't recognize it, or especially see it coming and voila you have a pre-made campaign. If you are going to do the whole LotR adventure thing, don't make them hobbits, don't have a council at Rivendell (sp?) and don't make it obvious what's going on. As an observer in the movie (and books) we saw a lot more information from perspectives a party wouldn't see.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lord Ipplepop]

I usually design adventures based on a campaign or an interesting thought....
Example:
Campaign- During character creation, random character (Dwarf) was told from family lore that his father had been killed during the Goblin Wars...I decide, "OK... What would happen if his father was not dead, but rather captured and was being used as slave labor. (I had been watching TV and saw Missing In Action- Chuck Norris- and decided to base a campaign around the premise)
The first adventure is a throw away; however, I have to figure out how to get the Dwarf information that his father is alive. hmmmm... How to do that....
OK.... They are hired by the local townsfolk to take out a band of Goblins who are causing a disruption in the local salt mine (or some such). At some point in the adventure, the Dwarf finds his father's shield (a shield with hbis father's shield device, etc). The BBEG realizes there is a connection and in his dying breath laughs at how stupid Dwarves are, and how, through all of their bluster, they do- in fact- leave their own wounded on the field of battle.
Of course, the Dwarf wants to know what he means... to bad the BBEG is dead.
With that, I have an adventure and the beginning of a campaign.

Adventure- The party is wandering around the wilderness and comes across an old, abandoned keep that is unused and in disrepair. As ity is getting dark, they spend the night. In the morning, the caracters are surprised by a band of (monster) who are wandering into the keep looking for something. They of course don't like the adventurers being there, and accuse them of stealing something precious to them (which the party didn't know was there)... thenm another group shows up looking for the exact same thing, qand the next thing you know, the party is in the middle of a massive battle over an artifact they didn't know was there, and have no clue what it is or what it looks like.
This is, basically,m nothing more than a variation of the adventurers having to fight off another party who is in "their" dungeon looking to "steal" their treasure.

 

[Dandu]

The first adventure is a throw away; however, I have to figure out how to get the Dwarf information that his father is alive. hmmmm... How to do that....

Have you ever watched the Next Generation episode "Birthright"?

 

[SuperJebba]

I use all published adventures and campaigns on my group and tweak or add content as I see fit. If one of the players becomes interested in some element of the campaign not directly related to the story, I expound upon it and work it in. Or sometimes I drop various ridiculous items in and have fun with that.

I really enjoy coming up with plots and stories but it is so challenging to create encounters for a whole adventure/campaign. I get that players are supposed to be worn down and such, but meaningless encounters are kind of boring. Plus, I don't have the time I'd like to flesh out worlds.

 

[CuRoi]

I have a case of writers block for an adventure/campaign that I am writing and I wanted to know what tools (websites w/ guidelines etc.) you use when creating an adventure/campaign. Do you use published adventures or do you write them yourself? Any advice would be appreciated. The campaign is going to take place in Eberron in case that helps.

I ran a Dragonlance campaign in college but since then, I have used my own settings. I can't provide guidelines, or method to my madness. I am also not too familiar with Eberron, so I'm trying to sneak in under the "any advice is appreciated" category...

My last campaign was based on Irish/Celtic myth. I took an elective class in college and really enjoyed the literature. And, you know, it was a "Setting" complete with feats, outer planes, fey, magic items, powerful spellcasters, druids and warriors, etc. etc. I read more books related to it, surfed the web for translations of the old legends, read up on bronze age cultures and history, etc. etc.

So essentially, a lot of homework and research coupled with giving everything an original "twist".

I developed a world which was "low magic". Arcane casters had been hunted down and all but wiped out centuries ago when they had been equated with a race of evil Illusionists that fought for dominance on the main continent (the Fomorians, only loosely based on the myths). The "old gods" of the original people (the Tuatha de Danaan) had also slowly been waning in power, having been replaced by worship of more recent ancestors. These ancestors essentially represented 5 warring clans - this divide made it all but certain that the humans coudl nto come togetehr and worship the Elder Gods (the providers of true clerical power).

The only neutral parties left were the Druids and they had sort of "devolved" into mainly an expert class. So the PCs challenge was to return the balance of magic to the world. Along the way, dark forces (The Triumvirate - a group of Medusa spell casters from a distant land and roughly equivalent to the Roman Empire that ultmately ushered out the era of the Drudis in real world) that had an interest in keeping the continent "low-power" awoke the Giants of the Giant's Stair (Northern Mountains - roughly equiv to vikings) to make war on the humans before they could succeed in returning to their old glory.

Anyway, too many years and too many stories to share, but you get the drift - it was based on real world mythology and extrpolated into a new world. New names, different history, etc.

I've got a new campaign idea in mind which comes from just mainly twisting around current events. It's sort of a cataclysmic idea where a world is actively being rent apart between the various elemental and transitive planes (sort of a play on global environmental problems - and no I'm not looking for a global warming debate). However I often thought a fun way to run a campaign would be to make a world that was very loosely connected to the Real World (say America roughly corresponds to a fantasy realm of which is a republic of city states for instance) and use current events to fuel your ideas.

So, I don't create from whole cloth (which is often what leads people to writer's block) but seek a foundation for inspiration...

I do have shelves full of old modules / setting info, but it's mainly for scavenging purposes (I need a map, check - I need a city - Ahh there's that 2e Lankhmar module...)

 

[Jacob Marley]

I have a case of writers block for an adventure/campaign that I am writing and I wanted to know what tools (websites w/ guidelines etc.) you use when creating an adventure/campaign. Do you use published adventures or do you write them yourself? Any advice would be appreciated. The campaign is going to take place in Eberron in case that helps.

I make extensive use of Mythic: Game Master Emulator when I DM. The basics of the system is a series of random tables designed to facilitate creativity.

Also, check out the Ultimate Toolbox. Another wonderful tool for campaign/adventure building.