Campaign Ideas

[Stormborn]

I recommend a moduler "world tour" type campaign. The campaing can begin in any populous city where the PCs learn of a Titan artifact and decide to seek it, either because they are paid to do so or from their own motivations. As they investigate this rather simple adventure they learn that
1) this artifact is but one component of a larger artifact and the pieces are scattered all over the world
2) there are multiple groups seeking to collect the artifacts (some good,some evil, some not so obvious - giving them a chance to ally or make enemies as they wish)
3) there are vague prophecies of doom related to the assembled artifacts and periodicially the PCs are warned off - giving them a chance to decide to stop those who seek them.

In the end the artifact, when assembled, turns out to be an insane construct that lashes out at whoever created it and goes on a rampage of destruction - which may or may not fit into the plans of the BBEG- and gives the campaign a great final climatic battle.

This combines the straightforward McGuffin search with lots of options for development depending on the desires of the players. It also lets you ease yourself into it. You can start running the campaign with a very limited scope and expanded as you feel comfortable doing so. Best of all it lets you take the PCs to all those interesting places the world has to offer.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, I'm not sure how much conversion would be necessary to make it fit, but I'd be remiss in my duty if I did not suggest War of the Burning Sky as a possibility for a World of Warcraft game.

WotBS is a 12-adventure series, going from 1st to 20th level, detailing events of a fantasy war. It's fairly modular, designed so that individual adventures stand alone, and to have 4-adventure arcs that can be run as shorter campaigns.

Again, it's designed for D&D 3.5, and I don't know whether it fits the tone you want, but you might want to take a look at the free Player's Guide and Campaign Guide, from E.N. Publishing, available at http://enworld.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=4202.

 

[Ry]

The setting is the World of Warcraft, right after the end of the Third War. My PCs are a Shaman, a Warlock, a Hunter, a Rogue, a Warrior, and a Druid. I'm using the World of Warcraft campaign book from Sword and Sorcery. Most of the group is Alliance with the exception being the Warlock who is undead.

One of the best things you can do to help this game get off the ground is have the players agree why they're adventuring together before the game. While stories of how heroes meet for the first time can be cool, they're awfully tricky to do during play. I'd recommend coming up with something with the help of the players.

 

[Zankafen]

One of the best things you can do to help this game get off the ground is have the players agree why they're adventuring together before the game. While stories of how heroes meet for the first time can be cool, they're awfully tricky to do during play. I'd recommend coming up with something with the help of the players.

I already have a plan to bring them all together with a plot that will force them to work together with the threat of imprisonment and/or death hanging over them. I can't really go into detail in case of my players happens to find this thread, but I assure you it can fit as the beginning to almost any campaign (there isn't a situation that I can think of that this couldn't be used for.)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

There is a wealth of campaign ideas in here:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?threadid=102706

 

[Ry]

I already have a plan to bring them all together with a plot that will force them to work together with the threat of imprisonment and/or death hanging over them. I can't really go into detail in case of my players happens to find this thread, but I assure you it can fit as the beginning to almost any campaign (there isn't a situation that I can think of that this couldn't be used for.)

That's a very heavy-handed technique. It can work - but the question is whether you want PCs straining at their ropes right out of the gate.

 

[Zankafen]

That's a very heavy-handed technique. It can work - but the question is whether you want PCs straining at their ropes right out of the gate.

It is a heavy-handed but, and I would prefer not to do it. The problem is that I had told my players that I wouldn't restrict them to a certain affiliation, and with most of the players being Alliance characters (and at least 3 of them being Night Elves) I have to find an excuse for them partying with an Undead. Really I'm only using the start as the first adventure hook, during the adventure they will find the information that leads to the rest of the campaign, but beyond that first adventure they are not going to have to deal with the original reason ever again (well, kind of

I guess I might as well reveal how I had planned on starting the campaign so that I can get better feedback.

The various players are going to be granted invitations to a stately manor in a neutral-aligned city run by Goblins, when they arrive at the door a butler will greet the characters (he is an illusion). The characters are led into a waiting area to await Lord [insert name here]. While they are helping themselves to refreshments a scream is heard upstairs. I'm going to assume the characters rush to investigate (most of them are good aligned). When they arrive their host will be lying in a pool of his own blood, but still clinging to life. I would like to think that one of the healers moves to try something, just as they do guards burst into the room and, seeing what looks to be the culprits, promptly arrests the PCs. They are brought before some higher up in the city and are given a choice, perform a task for me or go to prison.

 

[Zankafen]

I think that's the longest post I have ever written.

 

[Zankafen]

Does anyone have any more ideas?

 

[Ry]

OK, feel free to throw this comment in the trash, but I've seen versions of your plan in games I've played in. Usually it means your players will fight the guards, and it's basically starting the game saying "I'm going to railroad you guys into this, you have no decisions to make."

A better way is to sit down and say "OK, you guys are all in this neutral city, you're all associated with this guy (patron). You all know him somehow, and you all know each other. How do you know him - and how do you know each other? Make some strong relationships here - if something happened to him, or one of your other friends, you'd be out and doing something. So what's the story?" They'll come up with stuff. Maybe the undead is someone's reanimated brother. Maybe the orc and hte human were both left for dead on the same battlefield. And so on.