Campaign Concepts You've Got On Deck

[ccs]

Well, the current campaign has come to an end. And another player is going to run some PF for a bit to give me some PC time (I figure I have two or three months).
One player requested that I run "something Greek".
Another wants a Pirate campaign.
The other two didn't have a strong preference for anything - just D&D/PF & that they not be the DM.....
System-wise? I've got 2 votes for PF, 1 for 5e, and one player who'll play either but complain about either as he'd prefer 3.5 (wich isn't an option because I'm not running 3.5). Me? I'm good to run either 5e or PF.

So I'm:
1) reading up on both Theros & Odessey of the Dragon Lords for a possible "Greek" campaign.
If we go this route I'll run it in 5e.

2) dusting off my notes from when I ran Skull & Shackles almost 10 years ago for the "Pirate" campaign.
This one I would prefer to run as PF vs converting it. But the group'll decide.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The Great Hunt - After more than a century of peace, the Horn of Hamarel has been sounded by a woodsman’s daughter in a dark forest to the north.

The Horn was lost for nearly a thousand years, and the last time it was found the world nearly ended, and the borders and cultures of the people of the world was redefined in the aftermath.

Just like the legends say, the Horn was heard across the world, in the Heavens, and in the Pit. When the Horn sounds, it is because great darkness threatens the world, and the horn appears in order to call The Great Hunt.

Brave and foolish adventurers gather in the great cities of the world, eager to form companies and go forth, seeking the lost treasures of the heroes of the past. Meanwhile, legendary monsters awaken, ancient curses and plagues rise again.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

Baronic Emblem: Three Houses
A combined Lancer and Lancer: Battlegroup campaign following Karrakin player characters from their time in the military academy, into the flames of the Dawnline Shore war, and the intra-Baronic conflicts that follow when a conspiracy seeks to overturn the power structures of their homeworlds.

The events of the academy phase will help to generate friends and rivals from the various Baronic houses, who will become recurring characters during the Dawnline Shore war, and the civil war that follows. Old friends may find themselves forced to fight each other to the death...

I plan to wait until the release of the Karrakin Trade Baronies Field Guide (for the setting) and Lancer: Battlegroup (for fleet combat) before running this campaign, of course.

 

[Fifinjir]

Preventing a kingdom from becoming a Demiplane of Dread.

 

[jdrakeh]

Not so much a concept as an actual campaign, but I really want to run Beneath by Severed Books sometime this coming year. It's basically a Dark Souls-ish system-neutral campaign. It has some adult themes, but nothing horrendously gross/inappropriate (though X Cards are for sure going to be used at my table).

Also, I want to get a vaguely Shadowrun-y Medicart (i.e. Doc Wagon) campaign to the table next year, using Ultramodern5 REDUX by Dias Ex Machina Games. So, near future with corporation rule replacing government law and with the standard D&D fantasy races. Probably going to go the biotech route, rather than cyberwear, though (with the possible exception of limb prosthesis). PCs will be combat medics working as a Threat Level Red extraction team. The campaign will mostly be episodic.

 

[Raduin711]

I would like very much to run an age-of-sail trade-based campaign. This would likely either be based on a heavily modified version of Spelljammer, or set on an "air world" resembling things like the video game Skies of Arcadia, the board game Sky Traders, or Jim Butcher's the Cinder Spires (hurry up on book 2, Jim!) I am also drawing on the game Return of the Obra Dinn as a glimpse of what "life on a ship" might be like and the sort of personalities you might find.

I am not totally satisfied with the ship combat rules found in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and will probably be revamping it, not just to get the ship off the water, but also to involve the players more... and make the crew of the ship more important than just a group of nameless NPCs that make the ship go zoom, so long as you throw a charisma check every now and again and pay them in pocket change.

But for starters, I would like to replace the Spelljamming Helm. As written, a mage with a ring of sustenance and a spelljamming helm can forego the need for a ship of any kind, and explore the universe on a chair attached to a couple of planks of wood.

Instead, ships are essentially alive. In the middle of every ship is a crystal heart called a Spelljamming Crystal that provides all the necessary functions of the ship:

• The air envelope. This is now a function of the crystal rather than a natural phenomenon. The crystal constantly refreshes the atmosphere so that tracking the air is no longer necessary. Gas-based spells and effects last as long as they do in a normal environment. The crystal prevents gasses from escaping the envelope.
• Gravity. The gravity plane is decided when the ship was designed and the crystal installed. It cannot be "shut off" or altered.
• Levitation. The crystal allows the ship to levitate upwards at a slow rate. This ability is typically only used for takeoffs and landings.
• Harnessing the Starwind. Beyond the edge of a planet's atmosphere, there is no real wind or water to sail in. Instead, Spelljamming ships depend on harnessing the Starwind, an intangible force that normally passes through physical objects, but can be harnessed by allowing the ship's sails to interact with this wind.
• Orientation. The crystal gives the helmsman a degree of control over the ship's roll, pitch and yaw so that the ship can be steered. Combined with the sails, this gives the ship a similar ability to steer as their oceanic counterparts.
• The Web. The web is a shell of force that surrounds the ship while on voyage for protection. It is normally invisible, only appearing briefly as a network of glowing fibers when an object or spell is repulsed by it, and when it is raised and lowered. It is located in the same place as the air envelope. The Web is permeable one-way: objects and spells from inside the web can travel out of it, but objects and spells from outside cannot travel inside. This includes spells such as Teleport, Divinations, etc. It can interfere with the function of some magic items, such as sending stones, which can only send messages while within a Web, but not receive them. The Starwind and the Phlogiston are the only known substances capable of penetrating the Web. Attempts to bypass the web by transmuting oneself or other objects into Starwind or Phlogiston have so far proven fruitless, as the Web is somehow able to filter it out. The Web can be damaged, however, and has a hit point total. When the Web is at 0 Hit points, the Web is dropped, and the ship loses the ability to harness Starwind, Levitate, or change orientation. It retains the ability to maintain the air envelope and gravity, and is effectively immobilized without another means or propulsion. While under the effects of a planet or other gravity-producing body, the ship will likely crash, but while in Wildspace or the Phlogistion, the ship will rapidly slow until it comes to a stop.
• Webcasting. As a crew becomes familiar with a ship, so too does the ship become familiar with the crew. This symbiotic relationship between ship and crew can have a number of surprising effects. While the Web is raised, officers aboard a Spelljammer can offer the ship Spell Slots allowing the ship to cast spells during combat. As a crystal grows in strength it can learn spells from it's crew- what kinds depend on the sort of crewmembers serve the ship. A ship with a Wizard captain and a Cleric 1st mate aboard may learn to cast Acid Cannonball or Repair Web. The ship may even learn non-magical maneuvers from particularly skilled crewmates, like the ability to rage like a barbarian or act with cunning like a rogue.