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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mathew_Freeman" data-source="post: 4877766" data-attributes="member: 1846">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 Swamps1.1. Entering the Swamps – bandit ambush & information gathered on Monsters (see 5)1.2. Navigating the Swamps skill challenge1.3. The Tower of the Person that Disappeared (see 3)1.4. Natural menaces combat encounter1.5. Defeating the Bandit Threat – Bandits are Elves, driven from Forest?Trade Route2.1. Early exploration (see 1)2.2. Meeting the Spirit of the Swamp2.3. Doing a task for the Swamp part 12.4. Doing a task for the Swamp part 22.5. The Trade Route Opens – meeting people coming the other way.Disappearance3.1. Learning of the person that vanished (in town)3.2. Finding the building3.3. Exploration (present day)3.4. Exploration (in another time period)3.5. The Answer & bringing knowledge back to the townRecover Item4.1. Learning of the Item & First Clues (should be choice of three, maybe?)4.2. Following up a Clue 14.3. Following up a Clue 24.4. Finding the item through searching the Swamp4.5. Recover of the item from it’s current owner / owners (see 5, maybe?)Eliminate Monster Threat5.1. Learning of the Threat from the Town5.2. Early skirmish in the Swamp & clue obtained5.3. 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 MonstersSo 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.</blockquote>

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