Campaign Assistance Requested

[Mathew_Freeman]

I'm going to be starting a new 4e campaign next Thursday. I've got a lot of ideas about what to do, but I'd like a few more suggestions or modifications from the ENWorld community to see where I could make some improvements.

At the moment I've only got two guaranteed players, so I'm thinking of allowing them to hire soldiers-at-arms and generic farmboys to help round out the party. The soldiers will have a bow, a melee weapon, a shield, basic attacks and a single encounter power, with the farmboys having pretty much nothing going for them. It should certainly help with any combat encounters.

I'm also going to be using the 5 x 5 campaign concept - basically, having five plot hooks at the start of the campaign, each with five steps to complete them, and scattering them around the local area so that characters are engaged on all of them at the same time.

I'm going to set the campaign next to a large swamp (thanks, Piratecat!) with a small town to use as the base. Here are my five plot hooks, and the ideas I've had so far:

1. Explore the Menhir Swamps.
2. Set up a Trade Route through to Other Place (through the swamps).
3. Investigate the disappearance of the Sorceror.
4. Recover the Weapon of Magic.
5. Break the power of the Lizardmen / other scary monsters.

Breaking each one down:
Explore the Menhir Swamps
1.1. Entering the Swamps – bandit ambush & information gathered on Monsters (see 5)
1.2. Navigating the Swamps skill challenge
1.3. The Tower of the Person that Disappeared (see 3)
1.4. Natural menaces combat encounter
1.5. Defeating the Bandit Threat – Bandits are Elves, driven from Forest?

Trade Route
2.1. Early exploration (see 1)
2.2. Meeting the Spirit of the Swamp
2.3. Doing a task for the Swamp part 1
2.4. Doing a task for the Swamp part 2
2.5. The Trade Route Opens – meeting people coming the other way.

Disappearance
3.1. Learning of the person that vanished (in town)
3.2. Finding the building
3.3. Exploration (present day)
3.4. Exploration (in another time period)
3.5. The Answer & bringing knowledge back to the town

Recover Item
4.1. Learning of the Item & First Clues (should be choice of three, maybe?)
4.2. Following up a Clue 1
4.3. Following up a Clue 2
4.4. Finding the item through searching the Swamp
4.5. Recover of the item from it’s current owner / owners (see 5, maybe?)

Eliminate Monster Threat
5.1. Learning of the Threat from the Town
5.2. Early skirmish in the Swamp & clue obtained
5.3. Skill challenge in town to work out weaknesses (infiltrator in town?)
5.4. Skill challenge for diversion / getting into the camp?
5.5. Battling the Monsters

So here are the things I'm looking for some inspiration on:

Who is the person that disappeared?
What sort of tasks might the Spirit of the Swamp ask them to do?
What sort of building could be used in a present-day and ancient setting, keeping the walls in place but altering the interior (again, thanks Piratecat for the idea!)
What is the mysterious item, and what clues can I drop to it's whereabouts?
Who or what are the monsters?

My strengths as a DM are running combat quickly and managing a large group, so the prospect of doing several skill challenges and RP-heavy encounters is a little daunting.

This is a starting-at-level 1 campaign. Currently one player has announced he wants to play a Changeling shifter, and the other maybe a Warden or Avenger?

Plus, if anyone wants to share a brilliant idea for interesting locales in a small rural town to add a bit of magic and sparkle, let me know. I read about a graveyard maintained by a group that will only preserve graves for as long as the lettering is readable before burying someone new in it and I liked that a lot - had a nice, dark feel to it.

 

[roguerouge]

What's the home base like? What are the player backgrounds? That might help with the missing person angle.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

No information on player backgrounds so far, but the Changeling is going to be one-of-a-kind, I've decided on that.

In my head the town is small, very human-centric (possibly a few members of another race if one of the characters goes for that race, eg a small family of Dwarves or Elves) set in the basic Points of Light setting (but a long way from the Nentir Vale of the H series).

I'm thinking the missing person might be a more legendary figure than necessarily a friend of the PC's, but either would work. Maybe a mentor or a local, well-known trader.

 

[Rechan]

What sort of tasks might the Spirit of the Swamp ask them to do?

Think of the Spirit as any other NPC. Flesh out its personality. By giving it a personality, you can get a few ideas of what sort of things would appeal to the spirit.

For instance, what are its flaws? Is it vain? Over confident? Easily angered? Prideful? If it's vain, it might want something to make it look even better (or something to remove a blight upon it). If it's Easily Angered, it may want something to help it wreak vengence (like a powerful item the PCs must bury or destroy at the heart of the swamp, increasing the Spirit's power). If it's Prideful, it may want assistance punishing someone or something that the Spirit feels has given it a minor insulted.

Spirits can have the same motivations as any other NPC: Wealth, sex, power, flight of fancy.

The Spirit's personality will likely be reflected in the Swamp, so one way to work backwards is to ask what the swamp is like. Is it fierce and dangerous? Is it beautiful and full of life in its own right (like the Everglades or the Bayou)? Is it mostly inhospitable, seeming to discourage anyone from living there? If you can describe what the Swamp is like, this gives you personality traits for your Spirit.

If it's Fierce and Dangerous

There is an inhabitant in the swamp that so far has been fully impervious to the Swamp's hazards and threats. The inhabitant moves around easily, and this annoys the Spirit greatly; it has not GRANTED this person the ability to move so unhindered, so how DARE this person evade the swamp's threats! The Swamp wants the PCs to find out what weakness this inhabitant has, so the Swamp may hit the inhabitant where it hurts.

In return, the PCs might get the Spirit's blessing to live there. Although the spirit might expect savage restitution; human sacrifice, destroying food or other supplies that would help them, avoiding pesticides and medicines so they suffer the effects of the swamp, etc.

If it is beautiful and full of life

The typical example may be the swamp is being corrupted or tainted somewhere, and the Spirit needs assistance clearing up the infection. It's turning the Swamp into something darker and more nasty, killing the local life (My leeches can't even live there! You know how bad something must be to kill the leeches?).

A more interesting thing may be a situation preventing the Swamp from prospering or spreading outwards beyond its borders. Perhaps the Swamp Spirit needs a Bride in order to spread, but it cannot find a Bride (or the Bride the Spirit desires has spurned its advances). Or something that the Spirit considers its prize inhabitant (some rare flowers or weeping willows) are dying, and the Swamp needs this rectified or it will be destraught by losing its prized plants.

Or the PCs may need to negotiate with another local spirit, allowing the Swamp to encrouch on that Spirit's territory, or fix some other problem. Maybe the Spirit of the River that floods the Swamp is feeding too little water into the Swamp, drying the swamp up. Thus, the PCs become negotiators for the Swamp.

 

[vagabundo]

Your setting sounds very similar to Saltmarsh in Greyhawk and the triology based there: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

I think that might be a good mine for idea's..

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Those are some excellent suggestions, thank you.

I think I'll go with an ancient and proud Swamp with two goals:

Remove the ancient & corrupting temple in the middle of the swamp
Expand to the West (towards the home base of the campaign)

That's sparking some more ideas already.

 

[Quickleaf]

I like the way you've laid out your plot ideas - it really helps to grok what you're thinking.

Who is the person that disappeared?

Well, you've got them as a sorcerer and there's apparently time travel involved, so why not a sorcerer with a "Temporal" bloodline?

What sort of tasks might the Spirit of the Swamp ask them to do?

What about present it as a "Lady of the Lake" type figure only more eerie and less beautiful? There might be an evil spirit gaining power in the swamp - the only way to defeat it is either destroy its shadow fey followers, smite it with a magic (and bog-sunken) blade, or perform an elaborate exorcism ritual (could make a nice twist, where instead of the PCs stopping the ritual it's the evil spirit's followers attempting to stop the PCs).

What sort of building could be used in a present-day and ancient setting, keeping the walls in place but altering the interior (again, thanks Piratecat for the idea!)

By present-day, do you mean 2009? If so, there are plenty of castles which are still in use, usually as musuems or tourist destinations. I was just talking with a classmate about a cathedral in New York that was turned into a night club and the controversy around that.

What is the mysterious item, and what clues can I drop to it's whereabouts?

The logical choice is a magic object which will be used to defeat the monster but is lost in swamp somewhere. Maybe it's a spear or javelin used to wound the monster's mother/father/brother/sister/lover? Or the monster itself at one point by a legendary hero? Maybe it is fashioned out of some part of the monster (like a horn, tusk, or tail spike), and has a mystical connection to the monster?

Who or what are the monsters?

Shadow fey. MM2 has Umbral Sprite Swarm & Spriggans, though you could always reskin Dark Ones as bad faeries.

Plus, if anyone wants to share a brilliant idea for interesting locales in a small rural town to add a bit of magic and sparkle, let me know.

Lover's Cliff, a haunted spot above town overlooking [landmark], where forbidden lovers jumped to their death. Flowers and gifts are left to appease their ghosts, and now it is used by a well-intentioned friar to teach young paramours the lessons of chastity and patience. At night it serves as the trysting spot for a young noblewoman and the ghost of the youth... he hungers for flesh and she for secrets from the underworld.

 

[Rechan]

Shadow fey. MM2 has Umbral Sprite Swarm & Spriggans, though you could always reskin Dark Ones as bad faeries.

Their boss of course could be a hag. Aside from a black dragon, Hags are the typical mastermind in Swamp environments. Bonus because hags are fey entities.

Lover's Cliff, a haunted spot above town overlooking [landmark], where forbidden lovers jumped to their death. Flowers and gifts are left to appease their ghosts, and now it is used by a well-intentioned friar to teach young paramours the lessons of chastity and patience. At night it serves as the trysting spot for a young noblewoman and the ghost of the youth... he hungers for flesh and she for secrets from the underworld.

That's particularly cool. Consider it yoinked.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Well, you've got them as a sorcerer and there's apparently time travel involved, so why not a sorcerer with a "Temporal" bloodline?

One PC is declared as a Wizard (Illusionist) and wants to have a former Master in the nearby area. In that case, I'm going to pick up on that idea and say that the limited illusion magic that the PC has was a precursor to more serious Temporal magic the Master was in to. This is then going to mean that the ruin in the Swamp is going to be a Wizard's Tower - but when I get round to designing it I can think about some fun ways of using a Temporal theme to make it interesting.

Hmmm... how about rooms where a swinging pendulum appears, but the pendulum is from 1000 years ago? Or a sequence of fire blast that can only be turned off if you journey back in time?

How about rooms with doors that open into other rooms that haven't been built yet?

What about present it as a "Lady of the Lake" type figure only more eerie and less beautiful? There might be an evil spirit gaining power in the swamp - the only way to defeat it is either destroy its shadow fey followers, smite it with a magic (and bog-sunken) blade, or perform an elaborate exorcism ritual (could make a nice twist, where instead of the PCs stopping the ritual it's the evil spirit's followers attempting to stop the PCs).

YOINK! Oh yes, the PC's will have to do a ritual, and the bad guys will be trying to stop them. That sounds like a great idea for a full 3 hour session.

By present-day, do you mean 2009? If so, there are plenty of castles which are still in use, usually as musuems or tourist destinations. I was just talking with a classmate about a cathedral in New York that was turned into a night club and the controversy around that.

I meant in the campaign's time-line. But it has just occoured to me that maybe when the Wizard's tower was built it wasn't in a swamp, so as you climb it and look out of the windows you can see the land as it used to be. I need to go back and read Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper to get some ideas for this sort of adventure.

The logical choice is a magic object which will be used to defeat the monster but is lost in swamp somewhere. Maybe it's a spear or javelin used to wound the monster's mother/father/brother/sister/lover? Or the monster itself at one point by a legendary hero? Maybe it is fashioned out of some part of the monster (like a horn, tusk, or tail spike), and has a mystical connection to the monster?

I'll have to see what weapons or implements the party choose before I can make a final decision on this. But an item once used to injure a relative of the Swamp Spirit is a neat idea - perhaps the Swamp wants the item removed?

Shadow fey. MM2 has Umbral Sprite Swarm & Spriggans, though you could always reskin Dark Ones as bad faeries.

I'm probably going to go Lizardman (why waste a classic trope? ) but Bad Fey is a good idea for further development. And there should certainly be a Hag involved somewhere, too.

[/quote]Lover's Cliff, a haunted spot above town overlooking [landmark], where forbidden lovers jumped to their death. Flowers and gifts are left to appease their ghosts, and now it is used by a well-intentioned friar to teach young paramours the lessons of chastity and patience. At night it serves as the trysting spot for a young noblewoman and the ghost of the youth... he hungers for flesh and she for secrets from the underworld.[/quote]

And YOINK! again. The Swamp is close to an area of Mountains, so that'll fit nicely.

Thanks for all the assistance!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Had our first game last night - thank you for the suggestions and it went really well.

Short summary:

The PC's (two rogues, a swordmage and a bard) met at the wedding of the local mayor. She was, according to local custom, giving presents rather than receiving them. The Bard got a new lute, the Swordmage a set of fine leather gloves, one rogue got a deck of unmarkable cards and the other got a small spyglass (as befits his local role as a scout).

They were asked to open a trade-route across The Swamp by Mr Pillar, the Warforged storekeeper. I have recently been re-reading the Discworld series and if you read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golems_(Discworld) you'll see the inspiration for him (check the references for Mr Pump in Going Postal).

Mr Pillar has also engaged another group of adventurers on the same task - there is a little bit of competition developing already.

Sgt Craddock also asked them to "deal" with the Lizardfolk (by whatever means) and I've alread dropped in some references to the Codex (with some clues that it can help you control Time), a lost Wizards tower and a few other things that aren't true (including info on a Black Dragon).

The group then set out into the Swamp to explore and were ambushed by a group of Lizardfolk, whom the beat off in fairly short order. We discovered that whilst the party are good in melee combat, they absolutey suck at range. Two Lizardfolk were armed with blowguns, shooting from distance, and both escaped at the end of the fight uninjured.

The other stuff that went really well was asking the players to get involved and create stuff. For example - I asked them what sort of minor gift they should receive at the wedding, and how they wanted to get through the Swamp (leading to the creation of a book called "A Guide to the Great Swamp East of Grunberg" which was quoted from several times). Also, just before the Lizardfolk battle as I was laying out the map, a player requested that a giant statue head be adding off to one side. As it turned out, it didn't get used in the battle but it's still sparking off ideas for future reference.

So - here are my questions and ideas about next weeks game:

1) The Lizardfolk that got away are from the Bird Skull tribe (known as a bad lot). What would be interesting for them to do next? Attack again? Send out more scouts? Retreat into their own space? Summon reinforcements?

2) I'd like to introduce the rival adventurers more fully next session. The PC's are camping out in the swamp so a meeting would be easy to do, and I want to avoid combat but have a small skill challenge or something as the two groups jostle for superiority - any thoughts?

3) Anyone got any good swamp-based encounters to bring to mind for a group of 1st level characters? I was thinking potentially of some undead, as they're always fun. Perhaps a group of long-dead zombies attack from underwater or similar. Or, heh, perhaps LOTS of zombies closing in from all around...

Things I still need to add in:

Local Lovers leap location
Graveyard location
Town-based encounters, rather than swamp based