Campaign idea - a la Reign of Fire

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Re: great idea

I LIKE IT! I have not yet seen the movie, but I may have to now. I am also going to pick this up and run with it. I have too many thougths in my head right now. I have to go and write them down.

Thank you! I'm very glad you like it. Please post or e-mail me if you have any more questions (or loopholes I forgot to address).

 

[Sidran]

Ever think to make the Chromies Legendary, very powerful, nearly extinct warriors of good perhaps they are under cover as well or divided and under cover....it isn't actually ala Reign of Fire but it adds a nice twist.


At the Underground I came across a cool poster of a Dragon fighting men and elves. It was beyond colossal... anyway just imagine the scene in which a Great Wyrm Golden dragon marched into battle with its clutch closely followed by elves, and human armies to attact the Dominante dragons

Non detection magic would be heavy in a world like this invisibility cloaks armor ( if it had vehicles armor for the vehicles could have that whole stealth appeal)

Large underground networks that link shelter to shelter.

Prestige Class Ideas


Dragonlord-evil masters of the Dragons

Wyrmsinger- adept at calling dragons to their doom, the wyrmsinger has the ability to use a siren's song like ability to lure dragons




SA's could include

Invisiblity Shift- allows a character to shift from being visible to invisible at will but the character must succeed at a concentration check (DC 20) after one hour, then +2 for every subsequent check. If at any time the check fails the character will automatically return to being visible. He cannot immediatly return to the invisible form but must wait 1d4 rounds before he can return to that form

 

[wolff96]

(NOTE: Dragon power comments are based on CRs for a Great Wyrm of that species.)

The problem, in my mind, is making a logical society out of this. Think about it for a moment -- Chaotic Evil creatures don't plan much for the future and don't have any compassion except for those they care about.

The only Lawful Evil dragons (normally, exceptions apply) are the Blue and Green Dragons -- middle of the road in power. The Black and White dragons are weaker, not as much of a threat. But the dominant power -- the Reds -- are Chaotic Evil. The great red that organized this aside, they're going to have a real tough time ruling.

In my opinion, this would lead to a fragmented, near-feudal system with each dragon fiercely maintaining his own borders. Conflicts become more and more common as time passes; dragons forget the potential of the lesser races for dragonslaying and focus on one another as the greatest threats to power.

Territoriality (sp?) rears it's ugly head. Dragons might actually encourage groups of monsters (and the PC races are included in that group) to attack their neighbors. Near continuous fighting along the borders of many provinces would eventually break out.

-----------------

On the surviving metallic side -- if you choose to have any survive -- the chaotics wouldn't fit in well with the new society. The Brass and Copper dragons are the weakest and second weakest of the metallic dragons. They're also the only chaotic breeds. Bronze, Silver, and Gold (in that order of power) would easily eliminate them if they became a part of the new, draconic society that their lawful tendencies would support as the ruling government.

Groups of rebels -- despite the fact that it was my original idea -- wouldn't have much of a chance at survival.

Groups of "lesser race" rebels would have a much better shot. I could easily see a wily old Blue (my favorite dragon, actually, so pardon me if I seem prejudiced... ) sponsoring a group of hunters that would go on missions to de-stabilize his enemies' lands. Worst comes to worst, the dragon denies all knowledge or has them assassinated. With a draconic patron in their early missions -- helping them to avoid magical notice, giving them a home base, perhaps even doing some illegal training in magic -- a group of adventurers becomes much more likely. Even the dragon's inherent capability for Hallucinatory Terrain, Veil, and Mirage Arcana would be very useful in thwarting scrying magics.

All of the mission ideas you've already presented make a lot of sense from this standpoint -- smuggling magic to their draconic lord, gathering weapons and fighting the half-dragon ruler of a neighboring city (or country) that offended their lord, and then perhaps eventually joining with an underdark band to overthrow their own lord when they feel strong enough.

Just a few more thoughts.

--------------------------------------------

Final idea, and this one is probably the most radical.

If you cut off the divine and infernal planes -- which makes a great deal of sense -- a more elemental form of magic might make a lot of sense. Introducing something like Sovereign Stone magic, which is based on the four elements, would make for a very interesting variant world. Allow druids to maintain their old school casting if you like, since their magic never dealt (much) with extra planar power. The other option is to make all druids fire/earth casters, which gives them access to druid-like spells.

You could always introduce PrCs that deal with the old magic that is now lost to all but dragons. Note that this makes dragons somewhat nastier, as SS magic is inherently weaker but more prevalent. Or, you could make it so that dragons severed themselves from old school magic when they sealed off the outer planes as well.

SS magic works on the basis that the gods aren't around or don't interfere -- so the human gods being dead works quite well. Earth magic takes care of healing.

This change -- to SS magic, which is a WONDERFUL system -- would make the world truly alien and different to most D&D players. And ANY spell from D&D can be easily and quickly remade into a SS spell -- so "lost" magic is easily incorporated into the new system.

 

[Ferret]

When I said Larger races, I meant, the more powerfull ones like titans, they could bring together the giants? Formian queen? Astral dread naught? Epic monster/characters?Inevitables? Mechanus would not like the world destroyed. Maybe the tarrasque...But it is very uncontrolable. But that is a good idea. You also want to watch out for all high level outsiders, even if you do ward off the higher planes, ther is still mechanus, and other stuff. You should really explain the gods more.

 

[Corwin]

Great minds think alike...

Amazing that you mention something like this. Between you and the movie, I'm becoming less and less impressed with my own idea I came up with well over a year ago.

My PC is a half-dragon monk/sorcerer. He comes from a far-off land nearly just like you mention. Basically, a powerful great wyrm red dragon king and all his loyal lesser dragons rule the lands with an "iron claw".

My monk comes from a group of half-dragon monks who oppose the Dragon Lords, known as the Secret Sect of the Iron Claw. They work in absolute secrecy and wish to eventually defeat their evil overlords. Though it is a seemingly impossible task at the moment.

Half-dragon progeny are somewhat common as loyal servants and minions to their sires. Though once in a great while, one will find disageement with their parent's dreadful ways and flee. Most are tracked down and killed. Those rare few who manage to escape, and learn of the Order, can find their way to it and are welcomed to the fold.

Most metalic dragons were killed off long, long ago. The few who survive either stay away or do their best to remain undetected.

Most other sentient beings (especially the prevelant races such as human, elf, orc, etc.) are either subjugated or run off long ago. The Dragon Lords consider them food and slave labor. They take what they want and destroy what they don't.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

(NOTE: Dragon power comments are based on CRs for a Great Wyrm of that species.)

The problem, in my mind, is making a logical society out of this. Think about it for a moment -- Chaotic Evil creatures don't plan much for the future and don't have any compassion except for those they care about.

The only Lawful Evil dragons (normally, exceptions apply) are the Blue and Green Dragons -- middle of the road in power. The Black and White dragons are weaker, not as much of a threat. But the dominant power -- the Reds -- are Chaotic Evil. The great red that organized this aside, they're going to have a real tough time ruling.

In my opinion, this would lead to a fragmented, near-feudal system with each dragon fiercely maintaining his own borders. Conflicts become more and more common as time passes; dragons forget the potential of the lesser races for dragonslaying and focus on one another as the greatest threats to power.

Territoriality (sp?) rears it's ugly head. Dragons might actually encourage groups of monsters (and the PC races are included in that group) to attack their neighbors. Near continuous fighting along the borders of many provinces would eventually break out.

-----------------

A valid point. Here another thought. You have the Great Red in charge of everything. You have a couple dozen of his most loyal buddies (other lawful evil/neutral chromatic and gem dragons, of any color) that rule large "super kingdoms" that the rest of the world is divided into. Then you have the rest of the rabble lording over smaller kingdoms inside the "super kingdoms." So you could still get the territoriality (good a word as any), while still maintaining nominal control over the various parts of the world.

Most likely the Great Red would have realized this had come to pass, and only truly enforces the laws he considers to be most important. The rest is subject to draconic discretion.

On the surviving metallic side -- if you choose to have any survive -- the chaotics wouldn't fit in well with the new society. The Brass and Copper dragons are the weakest and second weakest of the metallic dragons. They're also the only chaotic breeds. Bronze, Silver, and Gold (in that order of power) would easily eliminate them if they became a part of the new, draconic society that their lawful tendencies would support as the ruling government.

Groups of rebels -- despite the fact that it was my original idea -- wouldn't have much of a chance at survival.

Another valid point. Even if they weren't necessarily the leaders of a rebellion, even if they just wanted to be left the heck alone, some might be convinced to fight the good fight. A polymorphed dragon could be the greatest weapon of a group of freedom fighters. Hmm... draconic holy liberators.

Groups of "lesser race" rebels would have a much better shot. I could easily see a wily old Blue (my favorite dragon, actually, so pardon me if I seem prejudiced... ) sponsoring a group of hunters that would go on missions to de-stabilize his enemies' lands. Worst comes to worst, the dragon denies all knowledge or has them assassinated. With a draconic patron in their early missions -- helping them to avoid magical notice, giving them a home base, perhaps even doing some illegal training in magic -- a group of adventurers becomes much more likely. Even the dragon's inherent capability for Hallucinatory Terrain, Veil, and Mirage Arcana would be very useful in thwarting scrying magics.

All of the mission ideas you've already presented make a lot of sense from this standpoint -- smuggling magic to their draconic lord, gathering weapons and fighting the half-dragon ruler of a neighboring city (or country) that offended their lord, and then perhaps eventually joining with an underdark band to overthrow their own lord when they feel strong enough.

Following with the above ideas about the new draconic society, that would work. The only way adventurers, in the "normal" D&D sense, could exist would be to have a draconic patron. Ooo, I could see it now. Owning a group of highly trained adventurers could be seen as a sign of distinction, like owning an exotic and slightly dangerous pet. The dragons could pit their groups of adventurers against each other in gladatorial games, or send them on dangerous missions to reclaim lost artifacts in a deadly version of capture the flag. So they'll be providing a service as well as providing entertainment.

Final idea, and this one is probably the most radical.

If you cut off the divine and infernal planes -- which makes a great deal of sense -- a more elemental form of magic might make a lot of sense. Introducing something like Sovereign Stone magic, which is based on the four elements, would make for a very interesting variant world. Allow druids to maintain their old school casting if you like, since their magic never dealt (much) with extra planar power. The other option is to make all druids fire/earth casters, which gives them access to druid-like spells.

You could always introduce PrCs that deal with the old magic that is now lost to all but dragons. Note that this makes dragons somewhat nastier, as SS magic is inherently weaker but more prevalent. Or, you could make it so that dragons severed themselves from old school magic when they sealed off the outer planes as well.

SS magic works on the basis that the gods aren't around or don't interfere -- so the human gods being dead works quite well. Earth magic takes care of healing.

This change -- to SS magic, which is a WONDERFUL system -- would make the world truly alien and different to most D&D players. And ANY spell from D&D can be easily and quickly remade into a SS spell -- so "lost" magic is easily incorporated into the new system.

Check a few posts up, I posted a very similar idea. I haven't read the SS system before, which books are they in?

 

[wolff96]

I like the idea of competing groups of adventurers -- gladitorial games, competitions between rival lords, and 'retrieve the artifact' i.e., steal it -- type quests would make for a very interesting world.

Check a few posts up, I posted a very similar idea. I haven't read the SS system before, which books are they in?

Actually, your comment was what made me think of Sovereign Stone magic. Elemental magic is the lifeblood of the SS world.

Sovereign Stone has it's own D20 books. I'm afraid I don't know off the top of my head who published the books. The only books you really need are the Sovereign Stone core book and the Codex Mysterium.

It's a wonderful system of linked elements. A caster isn't a general mage, he takes levels in an "Elemental Mage" class. So you could be a 4th level Fire Mage/6th level Air Mage. For each class, you have a spellcasting modifier based on your level in the class. You roll a d20 and add that modifier. If the total is higher than the casting threshold of the spell, you cast the spell. If not, you continue casting the spell next round. For each round of casting after the first, you make an increasingly difficult fortitude save or take subdual damage. The subdual damage does not have a chance to interrupt your casting, though other distractions like being hit in melee can still mess you up.

To make up for the difficulties of being a caster, HD is boosted to a d6 and there is NO LIMIT on spells per day -- though no spell heals subdual damage under the SS system, to avoid loopholes. In other words, you can keep churning out spells all day, until you pass out.

Also, you have a certain number of spells that you can always cast instantly, a certain number that you have to glance at your spellbooks to recall, and a certain number that you have to sit down and study your spellbooks several rounds before you can cast them. This is based on your level and your intelligence.

The Elements are:
Earth -- Healing and Protection
Fire -- Damage and Divinations of the Past
Air -- Illusion and some Damage spells
Water -- Communication and Divinations of the Present

Mixed Elements:
Earth/Fire -- Animals and Buffing spells
Earth/Water -- Plants and some Buffing
Air/Fire -- Lightning and some Protective spells
Air/Water -- Weather spells

Any spell that you see in any other magic system can be recreated under Sovereign Stone magic using the Codex Mysterium chapter on creating magic. Now that I know what I'm doing, I can re-create a spell in a little less than a minute. The very first spell I ever created still only required 2 minutes -- it's a very well-written chapter.

Finally, because of the way the SS casting system works, it lends itself VERY well to ritual casting. A large group of mages can easily churn out the big spells that are very difficult for a lone magi to cast.

 

[Corwin]

I'm starting to rethink my disappointment as to the lack of originality I seem to have in my PC's background.

Instead, I'm going to view the glass as half full.

There is a lot of great material here that I can add to my own version of this. I can expand my original outline and flesh it out quite a bit.

Hope none of you mind that I'm going to be using some of the stuff posted.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Knock yourself out Corwin, and enjoy. This is just a campaign idea, not a fully fleshed-out campaign setting. I'm going to flesh this baby out slowly, but I put the first part up for people to enjoy, nitpick, and rip off for their own campaigns.

 

[Infinite Monkey@Work]

Of course, given that you are creating a whole campaign setting, whats to stop you from stating that red dragons (or even all dragons) are Lawful?