Dungeoncraft - 4th edition style

[Delgar]

Part I

Okay over the next few weeks/months I’m planning on plotting out my new 4th edition campaign using, Ray Winninger’s Dungeoncraft essay’s that were published in Dragon in the late 90’s (follow the link to read the essays http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/dnd/dungeoncraft/). I’ve always wanted to do this, but I always come up short, so hopefully by posting my progress here and gathering advice along the way maybe I’ll finally succeed and actually start a rewarding campaign. Alright here goes nothing…

Note: If there is a distinct possibility you’ll be playing in my game stop reading now. YOU KNOW who you are!



Okay so the first thing I need to do is to come up with a good world hook. Originally I was thinking that the points of light setting seems like a hook on it’s own but it really just isn’t enough. I struggled with this one, going back and forth from an environmental hook to a situational hook, to a racial hook. Really I just didn’t know what I wanted to do. I want to go with something post-Apocalyptic, as in there was once a great civilization a long time ago, but some event or events in the past really messed the world up. And then it hit me, a world dominated by undead (I know, I know it’s been done, but not by me). In my mind I can picture all these different people/races/cultures holed up in different locations trying to either fend off the undead menace and just fight for survival, or in more peaceful places try to rebuild some semblance of a society. I think this will provide me with a bevy of options. Also I think that with what we know about turn undead in 4th edition, it will be a nice but not a necessary edition in my group. I’m definitely thinking of going with the Zombies infecting others and creating more zombies, but I think in my game this will only happen upon death, not just a single bite. Also of course these small bastions of civilization will probably have specific customs on how to deal with the dead, most likely cremation, but perhaps some other things might spring to mind. Just as there are people struggling to survive, perhaps there will be others that will try to adapt and use the undead and try to bend them to their will.

Okay now that I’ve decided to go with a Post-Apocalyptic setting with lots of undead running around I’ll need to follow the 2nd rule of Dungeoncraft and come up with some secret surrounding what I’ve outlined. This is where I always get stuck, trying to come up with some secret for the campaign world. The obvious one is of course the cause of the undead rise, this secret alone could be the focus of the entire campaign so it has to be good and juicy and of course this where I’m drawing a blank. I know that the individual points of light and darkness will all have their theories on what happened, but the fun will be trying to figure out what really did happen and why over the course of the game, and nothing will be cooler than being able to look back at the first session and see hints laid out right in front of you, now if only I could come up with something…

Well I’ll end my first post here while I ponder what secret created my new world.

 

[JDJblatherings]

The undead, being immune to disease, were orignally created to fight a horrible source of world threatening disease. Unfortunately things got out of hand. The plague spreader is soon to be loosed on the world (sometime in this generation) and will wrack havoc on the isolated pockets of survivng folks.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

The source of the undead is tied to the moon and the lunar cycle. On nights when the moon is full the undead swarm out of hiding and attack, but when it is absent they are dormant.

A single, powerful undead fell from the moon (or one of the moons) years ago and began to corrupt the locals - the situation reached critical mass some 100 years ago when the undead began to outnumber the living. The single undead has scrying powers, say, and can locate areas of resistance to direct it's minions to them - giving the undead a semblance of planning and tactics.

You can slowly drop hints by having holding lunar festivals disrupted by undead attacks, and having them never emerge in daytime.

 

[TwoSix]

Note: If there is a distinct possibility you’ll be playing in my game stop reading now. YOU KNOW who you are!

No, I don't.

Actually, I'm just glad you have that link to the Dungeoncraft Articles...I always liked those.

 

[DeathMutant]

While the zombies appear to be independent and mindless they are actually part of a "hive mind" -- directed by an as yet undiscovered entity -- that gets smarter and more powerful the more brains it absorbs. Zombies that eat brains of intelligent creatures attempt to return to their "hive" to be consumed by their master, brains and all. As the master gains intelligence it starts to redirect its zombie minions to the tastiest brains in the world -- arcane spellcasters.

PC's could notice this pattern of some zombies, the ones that actually eat brains instead of just flesh, leaving the "pack" to return to their "hive" (as if by instinct since they did not originally come from there) deep underground and, hopefully, follow them. If the PC's encounter the master they realize it is far too powerful or well-defended to attack directly but might notice it consumes brain-carrying zombies in their entirety. This could make an ideal delivery system for some sort of undead "poison". . .

Formulating, creating and delivering the "payload" could be a series of quests in itself and, even then, no one really knows what the effect will be. Note that the master may learn of the plot but not the exact details since the PC's keep that secret (right?) and continually attempts to interfere by actively hunting them either with its own zombies or agents it has recruited. Perhaps another faction discovers the plot and recommends a different formula that has the opposite effect of what the PC's want. . .

Lots of possibilities here, especially if you play up the fact the master is continually getting smarter (increasing pressure), has hordes of minions and can influence other intelligent beings -- and the PC's are a threat to it because they know too much.

 

[Woas]

First off, those Dungeoncraft articles are like my personal gaming Bible. I have the Rules of Dungeoncraft written in permanent Sharpie marker on the inside cover of my DMG. So thumbs up, I already like what your doing.

Also I think that with what we know about turn undead in 4th edition, it will be a nice but not a necessary edition in my group.

It's not really clear. I'm assuming this game is planned for 4E or are you just taking the Turn Undead rules from 4E and porting them to a 3E game? I mean, this is the 4E boards so I'm assuming its for a 4E game....
If it was for a 3E game an undead were such a prevalent enemy type how would you handle rogues and critical hits being severely negated?

 

[Surgoshan]

You could make clearing out zombies and saving a city a heroic level quest, then finding and defeating the zombie master the paragon level quest, then going in and shutting down the evil gate it came through or something the epic level quest. Maybe it was summoned from an alternate plane by a lich or some such, and then it devoured the lich (making it an epic level entity, but then your players weaken it with a Trojan zombie).

 

[DeathMutant]

making it an epic level entity, but then your players weaken it with a Trojan zombie

I have images of the PC's secretly huddled within a huge hollow golem covered with flesh and enchanted with negative energy to resemble a giant zombie waiting for the right moment to emerge as the golem strides (ok, shuffles ) into the BBEG's lair while its minions cower in awe or ignore it completely.

 

[Nightson]

When you talk about the world being ruled by undead I picture the remaining survivors holed up in areas where the natural terrain makes it difficult for the zombie hordes to get to. There are basically no characters above level ten or so left at all, they died attempting to stop the initial undead invasion. The enclaves can communicate with magic and they try to make sure that none of them ever fall but they're being destroyed at the rough rate on one per month.

Outside the world is ruled over be the intelligent undead, liches especially will have carved out sizable kingdoms where they control large numbers of undead. The only reason all of the undead haven't gone and eliminated all the remaining survivors is that they've begun waging war against each other.

The ultimate cause of the undead invasion is a gigantic portal to the negative energy plane that was opened up on the site of the former capital of the big ancient empire. The energy from the portal is what sustains the legions upon legions of lesser undead, the extra negative energy flooding the plain does have a fortunate side effect because it messes up attempts to scry on living creatures, destruction of the portal will cause the lesser undead created during the zombie invasion to begin to decompose and they'll all die within a week. The destruction of the portal can either be the climax of the campaign or you could have the undead force launch a gigantic attack on the remaining survivors and make that the climatic battle.

If I were plotting it I would have the characters do some undefined stuff and the enclaves would get stronger, none of them would fall and the PCs could visit most all of them, giving them some emotional significance, during this time you can establish a recurring villian. A lich would make the most sense to me, but you could do a vampire or a dark cleric or whatever you like so long as it's something intelligent that can gain in power. At around the point you think the PCs are high enough in level for the finale you set things up for the climax which can take two routes.

1) If the climax will be the destruction of the portal. Hopefully the PCs will have established one of the enclaves as their base or at least have a favorite one. If they have, then destroy it. The portal has gotten bigger and it's effects are stronger and if the PCs don't head off to destroy it right now all of the other enclaves will fall soon. Destroying the big portal will involve the final fight with the recurring villain, the PCs will close the portal and it'll be good.

2) If the climax is a big battle between the forces of undeath. It's mostly as above except that the PCs favorite enclave survives the attack. They go to destroy the portal because it's getting stronger, they fight through all the lower monsters, they get to the big chamber where the portal is, the place you would naturally expect the big villain to be, and there's no one there. They get jumpy of course but they destroy the portal. A few moments after they do, they hear a sinister laughter, a magic recording device left by the big bad laughs at them and basically says that he's going to destroy all the remaining enclaves while the PCs are busy destroying the portal and that they're already too late, and that the PCs have made it all possible because the destruction of the portal has temporarily flooded all the undead with strength and burnt out (temporarily) the ability of good clerics to turn undead. If delivered right this should make your players blood curdle. The final battle is them hurrying back to the enclaves to fight off legions of undead. The ultimate goal is to find and destroy the big bad who's leading all the hordes, when he dies the army mostly falls apart.


Well, I had some fun with that. I hope some of that is useful should you decide to use it. Good luck.

 

[LostSoul]

The zombies took over the world.

Powerful lords were able to create points of light in the sea of undead - fortified towns, that sort of thing.

The secret is: these lords are vampires - they're immune to the zombie plauge. They hunt and feed on those who survived. What a great time to be undead!

The situation is: the PCs have been dispatched with a minor noble (not a vamp himself, but he's in on it, and he thinks it's okay) to go to scout out a new location for possible expansion and settlement.

The reason why this location has been untouched: it's some kind of holy shrine. The minor noble's job is to desecrate it so the vamps can move in.