Campaigns in the Elemental Chaos

[Two-Shot]

I haven't run a campaign in years, and haven't run a fantasy campaign in longer than that. Recently I got the itch to run something, and started writing a campaign setting. The concept was a civilization unwittingly built on top of the ancient corpse of a primordial in the Elemental Chaos. I sort of ran with it, wrote alot, and eventually picked up The Plane Below. The more I read, the more I'm starting to wonder if I can even remotely justify running an entire campaign in the Elemental Chaos. I mean, it isn't as dangerous as it was in 3rd Edition, but it's still more dangerous than I thought it was in 4th.

Is there a way I can write it that doesn't amount to a ton of handwaving as to why a bunch of level 1's would survive in the Chaos, or how a NORMAL civilization would last there for any significant amount of time? Or how the entire setting wouldn't just disappear into the chaos suddenly?

Should I just transplant the entire concept into the prime material? A huge part of the setting involved airships, and I know a few players are going to be disappointed in the loss of the swashbuckling elements.

Combat encounters, no problem for me. Skill Challenges, hard to keep going for more than a few rolls, but not a real issue. Writing a compelling series of adventures? I had something before in the Elemental Chaos, but it kinda fell apart with this realization.

Am I in over my head? Did I plan too big for a newbie DM? Should I just stick to running dungeon crawls for the time being and work my way up?

 

[aco175]

The short answer; If everyone is having fun, they you are doing your job and who cares how 'real' it is.

There could be a place in the chaos where civilization exists. Maybe this dead beiong is not really dead and most everyone who live there is afraid of him waking up. The ignorant humans set up shop anyways. This could also be a trademeet place of sorts where everyone is mostly civil.

Putting the campaign in the material world is always easier. Players know mostly what to expect in terms of physics and believability. This would allow you to focus on what seperates it from the normal expectations, instead of everything is different.

For combining the two, you can have the civilization in a volcanoe or such. A chain of magma vents provide steam for airships and transport through rough canyons.

 

[fba827]

Maybe start the civilization and first handful of adventures in a more natural environment.

Example: The city is built on an ancient primordial corpse as you have it, but IN the prime material plane. Thus, it provides more of a 'normal' reference point for the PCs (and players) to relate to and it can have all the established culture you want (such as airships and the like). and THEN (maybe at a good point in the story lines OR even as a break between heroic and paragon tiers) the dead primordial's corpse is sucked back to the Chaos planes and the city built on top of it goes with it! Now the PCs are stuck there and have to deal with whatever.
And over time, the city will collapse and vanish into the chaos, but the PCs have to help the residents figure out how to stay safe (do they resettle, do they need ingredients for some magic that will help protect them/the city from vanishing, etc)


Alternatively, set it in the plane of chaos as originally planned. But then the city has something, a powerful artifact it keeps under lock and key in the central building that acts as an anchor, letting the city continue despite the chaos around it. Of course, this means that outside the city, nothing is stable. This would also give good justification FOR the airships since there wouldn't be any lasting roads around so airships are pretty much required to get anywhere outside the city.


The first option above is more transitional, offering a point of reference for the players to relate to before relocating everything. The second option provides a solid framework to keep everything as you've already planned without making any adjustments beyond the inclusion of an artifact that protects the city.


I think you'll do fine with either. just a matter of what fits you and your group's taste better.

 

[Two-Shot]

Thanks guys. I considered starting the PLAYERS out on the prime material and pulling them into the EC, I didn't think of pulling the SETTING into the EC. Good idea, thanks for helping me overcome my writers block, you saved all the writing I did.